Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on Tuesday killed as many as 100 people, including many children, who were attending a ceremony held by opponents of army rule, said a witness, a member of a local pro-democracy group and independent media, reported the Associated Press.
A witness told The Associated Press that a fighter jet dropped bombs directly onto a crowd of people who were gathering at 8 a.m. for the opening of a local office of the country’s opposition movement outside Pazigyi village in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township. The area is about 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.
About half an hour later, a helicopter appeared and fired at the site, said the witness, who asked not to be identified because he feared punishment by the authorities.
Why Was This Done?
The military is increasingly using airstrikes to counter a widespread armed struggle against its rule, which began in February 2021 when it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 3,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed since then by security forces.
The junta confirmed late Tuesday night that the strike had taken place, but did not say how many were killed.
Since seizing control in a coup d’état in February 2021, Myanmar’s military has mercilessly sought to solidify its hold on power by assassinating and imprisoning opponents and targeting defenceless people, as explained in a report by New York Times.
At initially, there were large-scale protests, strikes, and a significant civil disobedience movement. Thousands of individuals, including opposition leaders and journalists, were imprisoned as soldiers and police started firing at protests in the streets.
Since then, armed conflicts between the military, known as the Tatmadaw, and pro-democracy forces, who have constituted a rebel army and local guerrilla resistance organizations, have replaced peaceful protest. The military has dominated Myanmar for the majority of its existence, and opposition leaders claim that they are waging a revolutionary battle to topple the institution, the report says.
The military, which accuses anti-coup fighters of being terrorists, has faced international condemnation for razing villages, mass killings and air strikes on civilians.
More than 30 people sheltering in a monastery were killed in Shan state in March.
Last year, a military air strike on a concert put on by the Kachin Independence Army in northern Kachin state killed about 50 people and wounded more than 70, the rebels said.
At a military parade last month, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing vowed to continue cracking down on opponents.
The military last month announced a six-month extension of a state of emergency and postponed elections it had promised to hold by August because it did not control enough of the country for a vote.
Then What is the Rohingya Refugee Crisis?
While looking at the atrocities against humans the Myanmar military is accused of, it is also important to note the brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in August 2017, when hundreds of thousands of people fled into Bangladesh from across the border in Myanmar. They put everything on the line to flee a military onslaught that the UN later referred to as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by water or on foot.
The majority-Buddhist nation was mandated by the UN’s highest court to take action to prevent the genocide of its Rohingya population in January 2020. However, the army in Myanmar has asserted that it is battling insurgent Rohingyas and denies harming civilians. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the nation and a former human rights champion, has consistently refuted accusations of genocide.
What Did Junta Say?
“There was (a People’s Defence Force) office opening ceremony… (Tuesday) morning about 8 am at Pazi Gyi village,” said spokesman Zaw Min Tun, referring to the armed anti-junta groups that have sprung up across the country since its elected government was toppled in a 2021 military coup.
“We attacked that place.”
Some of the dead, he added, were anti-coup fighters in uniform, though “there could be some people with civilian clothes”. The spokesman went on to blame mines planted by the People’s Defence Force for some of the deaths.
How Did the World React?
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified” by the deadly air strike, whose victims he said included schoolchildren performing dances, with the global body calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.
The United Nations, while not confirming a toll, said several civilians were killed, with Turk accusing Myanmar’s military of once again disregarding “clear legal obligations… to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the attack by the Myanmar Armed Forces today”, according to a statement by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Guterres “reiterates his call for the military to end the campaign of violence against the Myanmar population throughout the country”, the spokesman added.
Washington said it was “deeply concerned” about the air strikes.
“These violent attacks further underscore the regime’s disregard for human life and its responsibility for the dire political and humanitarian crisis in Burma following the February 2021 coup,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement, using the country’s former name.
“The United States calls on the Burma regime to cease the horrific violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and to respect the genuine and inclusive democratic aspirations of the people of Burma.”
Germany’s Foreign Office in a tweet said it “strongly” condemned the strike, adding it expected “the regime to end the violence against its people immediately”.
A Fierce Resistance
Sagaing region — near the country’s second-largest city Mandalay — has put up some of the fiercest resistance to the military’s rule, with intense fighting raging there for months.
Graphic video clips circulating on social media — footage AFP has been unable to verify — show bodies scattered among ruined homes. “We are going to rescue you if we hear you screaming,” one person could be heard saying in the video. “Please scream!”
A rescuer connected to a People’s Defence Force group told AFP that women and children were among the dead. After recovering bodies and transporting victims for medical treatment, he estimated the death toll could be as high as 100.
Myanmar’s National Unity Government, a shadow body dominated by former lawmakers from ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, called the strike a “heinous act”. “We… share the great pain felt by the families affected by this tragedy,” it said in a statement.
With inputs from AFP, Associated Press
Read all the Latest Explainers here
Comments
0 comment