Myanmar’s regime has continued its airstrikes on mostly civilian targets like schools, hospitals and religious sites.
The Irrawaddy has recorded around 58 airstrikes on civilian targets in resistance-held territory since May 2, despite its quake truce, killing at least 86 people and injuring over 200 others.
Airstrikes were reported in Rakhine, Chin, Karen, Shan, Karenni and Mon states and Sagaing and Mandalay regions.
On Monday, a junta fighter jet from Meiktila airbase allegedly used widely banned cluster bombs to attack a school run by the civilian National Unity Government at O Htein Twin village in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region. The attack came while over 100 children were studying in the school.
The attack killed 22 children aged seven to 16 and two volunteer teachers in their early 20s and injured 102 others, mostly children.
France, Canada and Australia condemned the junta’s airstrike on the school.
On Monday, two fighter jets from Tada-U airbase used three bombs and rockets to attack a school and homes in Mawlu town in resistance-held territory in Indaw Township, Sagaing Region.
The airstrike killed two people and injured seven others, destroying houses and school buildings, according to the Indaw Revolution that monitors junta atrocities.
The regime on Tuesday reportedly bombed Tun Ya Wai village in Rathedaung Township under the control of the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State, which killed 13 people, including children, and injured at least 20 others.
Zeya, a former air force sergeant who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement after the 2021 coup, told The Irrawaddy that the regime deliberately targets civilian targets as a strategy to pressure popular resistance groups into seeking peace.
“For the resistance groups, the people’s support is the most important factor. The regime knows that if the people demand that they stop fighting, the resistance groups will have to respond. That’s why the regime targets civilians,” said Zeya.
An airstrike targeted Kyauktaw town under AA control in Rakhine on Wednesday, killing two civilians and injuring many others. It also targeted the town on Thursday, killing seven civilians and injuring four others.
The AA condemned the attacks as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It said it would send evidence of junta war crimes to international organizations.
The regime stepped up airstrikes on towns held by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army in northern Shan State in May after the armed group refused to return the towns to the regime during China-brokered peace talks in Kunming in late April.
On Tuesday, regime aircraft dropped two bombs on the Bangkok Refugee Camp sheltering displaced people in La Ei village, Pekon Township, southern Shan State, destroying shelters.
Junta aircraft bombed the camp in September and November 2024, killing 10 displaced people, including children, and injuring over 20.
An airstrike on a displacement camp in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region, on Thursday killed two people and injured nine others, including a monk and four children, according to Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defense Force.
After the March 28 earthquake, by May 7, the regime conducted 372 airstrikes on civilian targets across 13 out of 15 states and regions, killing 334 people and injuring 552 others, according to the civilian Human Rights Ministry.
