Death toll in junta airstrikes on Sagaing Region village rises to 171

By Admin 14 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 April 2023, Kanbalu, Sagaing Region

The number of people killed in a junta airstrike on Pazigyi Village in Sagaing Region’ Kanbalu Township has risen to at least 171, according to ground sources.

Among the victims — 121 male and 47 female — were 25 children under the age of 10 and 12 teenagers under the age of 16, according to Kyunhla Activists Group.

Three bodies were discovered on the morning of April 14 and their bodies were too disfigured to even identify whether they were male or female, said an official from Kyunhla Activists Group.

“We are still trying to identify the three bodies found this morning,” the official added.

A military jet fighter dropped bombs and subsequently attacked with helicopter gunships at the opening ceremony of a public administration office for opponents of the junta in Pazigyi Village at about 8 a.m. on April 11.

As many as 100 victims are from Pazigyi Village and the remainder are from nearby villages such as Ywathayar, Laytwinsin, Maezataw, Htanaungkaigyi and Thayarmon, according to rescue workers.

“Most of the victims are from Pazigyi Village and the rest are from nearby villages. We are still picking up the dead bodies and are continuing the rescue operation,” said another rescue worker.

“Now the corpses are in a very bad condition. It is difficult because some bodies were burned and the heads and bodies were difficult to be identified,” said an official from a Kanbalu District anti-regime force.

More than 160 of the people who were killed in the junta’s airstrikes had been cremated as of press time and more than 20 people who were injured were being treated, according to the Kantbalu District PDF.

Junta spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun has said that those killed in the airstrikes were members of the PDF, not civilians, and that the large number of casualties was the result of an anti-regime group’s weapons cache exploding during the operation.

Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG) Minister of Defence U Yee Mon said on April 13 that an opening ceremony of a public administration office in Pazigyi Village was not a secret military meeting but a plan made by the community.

“Pazigyi Village was known not to be a military target, but the military deliberately bombed and killed a village that did not accept their rule,” he added.

“ASEAN strongly condemns the reported recent air strikes carried out by the Myanmar Armed Forces in Pa Zi Gyi Village, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region of Myanmar, that claimed the lives of at least dozens of civilians,” the Southeast Asian bloc’s rotating chair Indonesia said in a statement. “All forms of violence must end immediately, particularly the use of force against civilians.”

The United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on April 12 that they strongly condemned the aerial attack by the Myanmar military, as have numerous nations and the European Union.