The Myanmar junta has conducted at least 21 airstrikes and artillery attacks since Friday’s earthquake across Sagaing, Magwe, Shan, Kachin, Rakhine and Karenni, by The Irrawaddy’s count, and the number is expected to increase as more reports of attacks are verified. On Tuesday alone, following the announcements of temporary halts in offensive operations by several ethnic armed groups, the junta conducted at least five attacks.
Even as his regime intensifies its attacks, the junta leader has dismissed ceasefires called by rebel groups, vowing continued military operations.
Within a few hours of the quake on Friday, the junta’s Northwest Military Command based in Sagaing’s capital Monywa sent paramotors to conduct two aerial bombing attacks on civilian areas in Chaung-U Township, just 90 km to the west of Sagaing town near the epicenter of the quake.
The paramotors from the military command also conducted five aerial bombing raids on Chaung-U on Sunday, according to Chaung U Revolution News, which monitors regime attacks.
Regime forces stationed at two locations in Myinmu Township, adjacent to Sagaing town, indiscriminately shelled and opened fire on nearby areas on Monday.
On the same day, a junta fighter jet dropped bombs on AA-held Mrauk-U town in Rakhine State, killing a resident and damaging a house, and a junta naval vessel shelled a village in Kyaukpyu Township, killing a Buddhist monk and a villager and injuring seven other people, according to Rakhine media reports.
Junta drones dropped bombs on a village in Kyaukphyu on Sunday, destroying houses.
Just minutes after the quake on Friday, regime warplanes dropped two 250-lb bombs on Naung Lin Village in Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)-controlled Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan State, destroying three houses and two schools, the ethnic army said.
The airstrikes also killed seven members of the Danu People’s Liberation Army (DPLA), the resistance group told media.
A junta drone dropped 120-mm bombs on Kyaukkyan Village in the township on Monday.
The regime used drones and fighter jets to bomb two more village in Nawnghkio Township on Tuesday, injuring five villagers and destroying two houses, the TNLA said.
The ethnic Pa-O National Army (PNA), which is under the command of the regime, conducted shelling and drone strikes on two villages in southern Shan State’s quake-hit Inle region, which has reported around 100 earthquake-related deaths. The PNA attacks destroyed houses, according to the Human Rights of Inle Region organization.
Two regime fighter jets bombed a site where around 300 youths were resting while en route to attend military training at a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) base in Mohnyin district, Kachin State on Monday, killing 38 people and injuring 20 others, KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told media.
Junta ground troops raided and burned houses in a quake-impacted village in Pauk Township, Magwe Region after an aerial attack on the village by a helicopter gunship on Sunday, media reported.
On Monday, three junta fighter jets and paramotors bombed six villages in Salin Township, Magwe Region—despite that fact that no clashes with resistance groups were occurring at the time—forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes.
According to Chin resistance groups, the junta conducted airstrikes on Chin resistance-held Mindat and Kanpetlet towns in southern Chin State on Wednesday, but there were no casualties.
The regime warplanes continued to bomb the two towns on Wednesday, according to residents and local media outlets.
DVB reported that the junta conducted 32 airstrikes and artillery attacks across 10 regions and states including quake-hit areas from March 28 to April 1, killing 52 people and injuring 49.
Meanwhile, Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has rejected anti-regime revolutionary groups’ unilateral ceasefires, which they have declared to allow time for mourning of quake victims and to guarantee the safety of rescue operations in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck central Myanmar last Friday.
Instead, he has vowed to continue military operations against anti-regime resistance groups.
The junta boss rejected their ceasefires in remarks at a cash-donation ceremony for quake rescue and relief efforts held in the regime’s administrative capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday.
While acknowledging the resistance groups’ unilateral ceasefire declarations, Min Aung Hlaing claimed that some ethnic armed organizations are not currently engaged in combat but are organizing and training for future attacks.
“The Tatmadaw [Myanmar’s military] is aware of this [the alleged organizing and training], and their actions are still considered attacks, so the Tatmadaw will continue to take necessary security measures,” said Min Aung Hlaing.
The People’s Defense Force, the armed wing of Myanmar’s civilian National Unity Government, has declared a two-week pause in offensive operations in quake-affected areas. The ceasefire, which started Sunday, aims to facilitate humanitarian relief and rescue efforts.
Meanwhile, the Brotherhood Alliance comprising three powerful ethnic armies—the TNLA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army (AA)—that have seized most of Rakhine and northern Shan states, declared a one-month unilateral ceasefire starting Tuesday.
The ceasefire aims to ensure that post-quake rescue operations can be conducted swiftly and effectively, the ethnic alliance said.
UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop has urged all parties to the conflict to immediately cease hostilities and focus their efforts on the protection of civilians including aid workers and the delivery of life-saving assistance.
“All sides must urgently allow space for humanitarian relief and ensure that aid workers can operate in safety,” she said.
Despite her plea, regime forces used automatic weapons to attack a Chinese Red Cross-organized humanitarian aid convoy of nine trucks in Ommathi Village, Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan State on Tuesday night as it was traveling to quake-impacted areas in central Myanmar.
The TNLA, which has seized most of Nawnghkio Township, said the regime forces had been informed about the aid convoy’s movements in advance but opened fire anyway.
