A Myanmar military fighter jet targeted a school and hospital in Sagaing’s Taze Township in the early hours of Wednesday, destroying school buildings and houses, according to locals.
The Ywar Shae village school and hospital were attacked twice by the warplane at 1.38 am.
The attacks occurred just hours after pro-junta Telegram channels urged junta forces to bomb Ywar Shae and neighboring Mae Zali Kone, alleging that the villages were harboring injured resistance fighters.
No civilian casualties were reported in the attack as villagers had fled when they heard the warplane approaching, said Htoo Khant Zaw, a spokesperson for the local People’s Defense Comrades.
The second bomb narrowly missed the hospital but destroyed three houses nearby, he added.
“These are not military targets. Moreover, there were no ongoing clashes in the village with People’s Defense Forces,” Htoo Khant Zaw told The Irrawaddy.
Ywar Shae is located in northern Taze Township, 19 kilometers from Taze Town.
Over 10,000 Taze civilians have abandoned their homes after being targeted by regime airstrikes and shelling following resistance attacks on junta bases in Taze town on Nov. 22, the spokesperson said.
Combined resistance forces say they tried to seize the town’s police station on Wednesday but were forced to retreat by frequent junta airstrikes.
The Myanmar military has conducted at least six airstrikes during clashes in the town, a resistance fighter said. Around 70 junta soldiers from Ye-U Township were also airlifted to Taze Town as reinforcements, say resistance groups.
The junta’s base in Taze town and Artillery Battalion 6006 in Kantbalu are currently shelling nearby Taze villages, a resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy.
A Taze resident was killed by a regime shell on Wednesday.
Anti-regime armed groups in Sagaing have joined the expanding resistance offensive that began in late October with Operation 1027 in northern Shan State.
