The Burmese military junta acknowledges the bombing of a village

First modification: 04/12/2023 – 16:27

Burma’s military junta acknowledged having carried out an air strike against a village in the center of the country that caused dozens of deaths and strong international condemnation.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he was “appalled” by the action, among whose victims were schoolchildren, as well as other civilians.

The balance of the attack that occurred on Tuesday morning in the remote district of Kanbalu, in the Sagaing region, is still uncertain.

The BBC Burmese service, The Irrawaddy and Radio Free Asia reported at least 50 dead and dozens injured in this attack on the village of Pazi Gyi.

A lifeguard linked to the anti-coup People’s Defense Force militias said the death toll could be as high as 100, including women and children.

The military junta confirmed Tuesday night that the attack took place, but did not say how many people were killed.

fighter plane and helicopter

According to his spokesman Zaw Min Tun, the action occurred during the opening of a local office of the People’s Defense Force, the anti-junta armed groups that proliferated throughout the country after the 2021 military coup.

The military spokesman stated that some victims were anti-coup fighters in uniform, but that “there could be some people in civilian clothes”, and assured that part of the deaths were due to “mines planted by the PDF in the area”.

A security source told AFP that a fighter plane and a combat helicopter were deployed for the attack.

burma It is torn by violent conflict between the military junta and its opponents since the February 1, 2021 coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Burmese army relies on its air superiority, thanks to its Russian- and Chinese-made planes, to make up for its difficulties on the ground against rebel groups that control entire parts of the country.

“Climate of Fear”

Tuesday’s attack, one of the deadliest carried out by the junta, occurred shortly before the multi-day celebrations for Thingyan, the Burmese New Year.

“This reinforces the climate of fear. There will be more reluctance to organize mass events given the risk of bombing,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, “firmly condemned the attack” and “reiterated his call on the army to end the campaign of violence against the population,” according to a statement from his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The United States also declared itself “deeply concerned” by the attack which “further underscores the regime’s disregard for human life,” US diplomacy spokesman Vedant Patel said.

“The EU is deeply shocked by reports of the latest atrocities committed by the military regime” (Burmese), said Nabila Massrali, European Union spokesperson for foreign affairs.

focus of resistance

The Sagaing region, near the country’s second largest city Mandalay, is one of the main centers of resistance to the military regime, with intense fighting for months.

The videos supposedly recorded in the place – whose authenticity could not be verified – show lifeless bodies on a burned ground, where only a structure of a destroyed building was left standing.

Burma’s Government of National Unity, a shadow executive made up of former lawmakers from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, condemned an “act of hate.”

The head of the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, conditioned the holding of the elections that he has promised since he took power on the restoration of “peace and stability” in the country. In February, the junta acknowledged that a third of the country is beyond its control.

A local human rights organization estimates that more than 3,200 people have died from the junta’s repression since the coup, while the army offered a balance of more than 5,000, whose deaths it attributes to its opponents.