Myanmar Regime Airstrike Kills 4 Civilians in Saw Township

By The Irrawaddy 28 December 2022

Four civilians were killed and seven injured by an unprovoked regime airstrike in Saw Township, Magwe Region on Monday. There had been no reports of fighting between regime troops and People’s Defense Forces in the area.

Locals said a fighter jet suddenly appeared in the sky over Nyaung Kan village on Monday afternoon and opened fire for 10 minutes. A 66-year-old mother and her two sons in their early 40s were killed on the spot while another villager succumbed to injuries sustained in the attack.

The airstrike also injured seven other residents and destroyed three houses in the village.

Residents said they didn’t hear the warplane approach before it attacked, according to the Yaw Light Beam, a local information group. They were only alerted to its presence by the sound of an explosion as it fired on the village.

Ko Aung Gyi, a Yaw Light Beam spokesperson, asked local resistance forces to focus more on sharing information. He also advised residents to beef up their defenses against airstrikes.

“We urge the people to prepare bomb shelters and places that can withstand heavy weapons,” he said.

Nyaung Kan village is located 29 kilometers from Saw Town in Magwe Region’s Yaw ethnic heartland of Gangaw, Kyaw, Tilin and Saw townships, a resistance stronghold.

Regime forces carried out 268 airstrikes in 12 regions across the country from October last year to September 2022. Of these, 190 airstrikes were carried out on civilian targets and 78 on military targets, according to the parallel civilian National Unity Government (NUG).

Regime airstrikes this year have killed 155 civilians including women and children and injured 187.