At least 27 civilians including three children were killed when a Myanmar junta aircraft bombed a wedding ceremony in Sagaing Region’s Mingin Township on Monday, according to Mingin residents and the Kani People’s Defense Force (PDF).
The military fighter jet flew over Mataw Village, east of Mingin town, at around 8:20 a.m. and dropped three 500-lb bombs on the wedding. Over 30 people were injured in the airstrike, making it the deadliest so far this year. The injured civilians were being treated by medics from local PDF groups in locations that were undisclosed for security reasons, a Mingin resident said.
“A military fighter jet flew over the village twice and dropped three 500-lb bombs on the wedding,” he said.
The fighter jet reportedly took off from Magwe Military Air Base. The aerial attack on the village came despite the fact that there was no fighting in the area at the time.
According to the Mingin resident, Mataw Village has over 200 households and a population of over 800.
Sagaing Region’s Mingin area is a stronghold of resistance forces and PDF groups. Since the coup in February 2021, most of the youths in the area have joined revolutionary groups fighting to root out the dictatorship from the region. Resistance forces have taken the upper hand, especially in rural areas of the region.
The military regime has responded by bombing and shelling not only resistance forces’ bases and camps, but also civilian targets, including villages.
Resistance forces deployed near Kani, between Magwe and Mingin, spotted the military fighter jet heading in the direction of Mingin and alerted forces based in Kani. They told the resistance forces in Kani that the jet had passed their location heading north, but they did not know exactly where it was heading, according to a Kani PDF member.
The Kani resistance forces shared information on the aircraft, including its direction, with other PDFs in Sagaing Region and asked them to share it with resistance forces in their areas.
“We enquired about whether there were any clashes along the fighter jet’s direction, or any ceremonies. The Kani forces replied that there was no fighter jet heading towards them. Later, we heard the junta fighter jet bombed the wedding in Mataw Village,” a Kani PDF resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy.
He added that the surviving residents of Mataw fled the village, as the regime conducted follow-up drone attacks while the rescue operation was under way.
Suffering heavy losses on the ground, the military junta has increasingly resorted to indiscriminate airstrikes across the country, especially in resistance strongholds, killing many civilians including children and destroying hospitals, schools and religious buildings.
In the first four months of 2024, junta airstrikes killed over 359 civilians, including 61 children, and injured 756 others, according to research group Nyan Lynn Thit.
Prior to the attack on Mataw, the junta’s most recent aerial massacre occurred in Akyi Pan Malun Village in Magwe Region’s Saw Township’s on May 9, killing 14 civilians and injuring 30.
