An Amnesty International report says Myanmar junta’s January airstrike on Kanan village near the Indian border in Tamu Township, Sagaing Region, should be investigated as a war crime.
The rights group has called on the United Nations Security Council to refer the incident to the International Criminal Court.
The January 7 airstrike on St Peter’s Baptist Church killed 17 civilians, including nine children, injured more than 20 people and damaged the church, school and six houses.
The largely Christian village of Kanan has around 7,000 mostly ethnically Chin residents and is north of the town of Khampat in Tamu Township.
Khampat has been under the control of the civilian National Unity Government since November.
The junta has denied responsibility for the attack, claiming no planes were flying in the area that morning.
Amnesty said a video clearly shows a Chinese-made A-5 fighter jet above the village.
The rights group said the Tada-U air base near Mandalay is often used to launch airstrikes on Sagaing Region and satellite imagery shows A-5s at the airfield.
Sources told Amnesty that a People’s Defense Force was thought to be holding a ceremony in the village school that day.
No resistance fighters had been reported in the area.
Amnesty said the aircraft dropped several large bombs on a residential area when civilians were gathering for church and struck again at residents as they scattered.
These attacks were indiscriminate and should be investigated as a war crime, it said.
According to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, by December the junta had conducted 1,652 airstrikes, killing around 936 civilians and injuring 878 people.
The airstrikes destroyed 1,137 religious buildings, 76 schools and 28 hospitals, the research group said.
Amnesty is calling for a ban on jet fuel supplies to the regime as the military is still importing fuel, despite international sanctions.
Matt Wells of Amnesty’s Crisis Response Programme said: “These attacks must be investigated as war crimes and the UN Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. The perpetrators of these crimes under international law must be brought to justice.”
