Myanmar’s military said it carried out a deadly attack on a village gathering organised by its insurgent opponents this week and if civilians were also killed it was because they were being forced to help the “terrorists”.
Up to 100 people, including children, were killed in Tuesday’s air strike in the Sagaing area in northwest Myanmar, according to media reports, making it the deadliest in a recent string of military air attacks.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative reform that included rule by a civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Some opponents of military rule have taken up arms, in places joining ethnic minority insurgents, and the military has responded with air strikes and heavy weapons, including in civilian areas.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the air attack in Sagaing and called for those responsible to be held accountable, his spokesperson said, adding that Guterres “reiterates his call for the military to end the campaign of violence against the Myanmar population throughout the country”.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told military broadcast channel Myawaddy late on Tuesday that the attack on the ceremony held by the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration, for their armed People’s Defence Force was aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region.
“During that opening ceremony, we conducted the attack. PDF members were killed. They are the ones opposing the government of the country, the people of the country,” said Zaw Min Tun.
“According to our ground information we hit the place of their weapons’ storage and that exploded and people died due to that,” he said.
Referring to accusations of civilian casualties, he said “some people who were forced to support them probably died as well”.
