On Tuesday, the military Junta carried out an air strike on a village in Myanmar, killing at least 133 people, including women and children. The strike happened in a remote township, where around 300 people had gathered to celebrate the opening of a local administration office. The military claimed that it had received a tip-off from locals about the event, and it had launched “limited air strikes.” Some of the dead were anti-coup fighters in uniform, but it was acknowledged that there could be some people with civilian clothes. Twenty children were among the dead, and fifty more people were injured in the attack.
The international community condemned the strike, with France’s foreign ministry calling it “abominable.” The UN rights chief was “horrified” by the deadly air strike and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. The US also denounced the attack as “reprehensible.”
Since the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021, the military has cracked down on dissent and armed groups opposed to their rule, resulting in over 3,200 deaths according to a local monitoring group. The military has been accused of razing villages, mass killings, and air strikes on civilians.
