Two children were among 13 civilians killed by Myanmar junta airstrikes on a resistance-controlled township in Mandalay Region on Sunday, according to the Mandalay People’s Defense Forces (PDFs).
A regime fighter jet attacked Kan Taung village in Singu township at around 1 pm despite no reports of clashes, killing three civilians including a child and injuring 13.
Junta forces also bombed Ngwe Yone village at around 3.30 pm the same day, killing 10 residents including a child and wounding six others, according to a Mandalay PDF statement released on Sunday night.
The PDF said the regime used cluster bombs, which have been banned by over 120 countries, in both attacks.
Mandalay PDFs under the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) took complete control of Singu Township on July 20 after around 20 days of attacks on regime targets.
Singu is just 91 kilometers north of Myanmar’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, and is the first town seized by the PDF in Mandalay Region.
The regime responded to the loss with airstrikes that destroyed numerous houses and injured residents, said Mandalay PDF spokesman Ko Osmond.
The PDFs have joined phase two of the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027, attacking regime targets in Kyaukme, Nawnghkio and Mongmit townships in northern Shan State and Singu, Madaya and Mogoke township in northern Mandalay Region since late June.
Resistance forces have also surrounded Madaya town, around 50 km south of Singu, after seizing 35 regime bases and outposts in the township during 40 days of attacks that began on June 25.
Junta forces have retaliated to loss of territory on the ground by launching indiscriminate air and artillery strikes targeting non-military areas under the control of resistance forces.
On August 1, three civilians including a 14-year-old boy were killed and five others injured during junta shelling of Aung Chan Thar village in Madaya township.
After the PDF installed the first civilian NUG administration in Sagaing Region’s Kawlin town last November, the junta retaliated with a bombing campaign and arson attacks that killed more than a dozen residents and destroyed around 80% of the town.
