The speck in the sky and faint droning sound went unnoticed as friends and relatives crowded around the bride and bridegroom in Mataw village on the morning of June 3.
At around 8.30am, the happy couple were posing for wedding photographs when a sudden roar ripped through the joyful celebration. A 500-lb bomb had exploded on the groom’s house in the shady compound hosting the reception.
The blast tore through large trees along with guests in their wedding finery.
“The bride and groom, natives of the village, were unhurt. They were posing for pictures, buffered by the crowd surrounding them,” said a villager.
Junta propagandists claimed the groom was chief of the Mingin People’s Defense Team and the guests included People’s Defense Force (PDF) fighters.
Residents said most people attending the wedding were Mataw villagers. The junta remained silent on the number of casualties, but villagers said 29 were killed in the bombing, six of them children.
A resident who helped retrieve the bodies and prepare funerals said the corpses were ripped apart and impossible to identify.
“Some bodies had no heads, some had no limbs. Some were disfigured. There were large piles of human flesh,” he said.
At least 53 others were injured in the blast, a dozen of them severely. None could be taken to a hospital or clinic as the junta had blocked local roads.
“The only treatment available was from young health workers with basic first-aid training,” said a volunteer who helped the victims.
“Village custom dictates social events are joined by all the villagers, including children, who share the chores and food,” explained a Mataw resident.
The bomb left craters six feet deep, villagers said.
“My nephew was hit in his thigh and died from blood loss while receiving treatment,” said one resident. “My aunt also had one of her legs broken. They were at the wedding watching the photo session.”
Villagers buried the victims in a mass grave on the same evening.
The June 3 bombing raid was the first aerial attack on Mataw, a farming village in Sagaing Region with around 130 households and 300 people, just 3.2 km from Mingin town.
Junta troops on the opposite bank of the Chindwin River shelled people as they retrieved the dead and rescued the injured, said U Htay, spokesman of the Mingin People’s Defense Team.
One week on from the bombing, residents remain too afraid to return to Mataw.
“We have no words, we are outraged and grieving,” said one villager. Entire families were killed. In others, parents were killed and only children survived.”
The Mingin People’s Defense Team warned locals on June 6 not to hold gatherings or open schools amid the threat of frequent junta air raids.
“If the regime wants to attack resistance forces, they should only attack their bases. If they are brave enough, they can attack us either from the air or on the ground. But they should not harm the people,” said a member of People’s Defense Team.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on June 6 condemned the junta’s deadly attacks in Sagaing Region and Rakhine State, adding he was deeply concerned about escalating violence in Myanmar. The regime killed scores of villagers in Rakhine’s Sittwe in late May.
Duwa Lashi La, acting president of the parallel National Unity Government, condemned the “cruelty and wickedness” of a regime that massacres civilians claiming they are legitimate military targets.
“It [the regime] has no code of conduct. We must make sure that neighboring countries and the international community know that the junta is killing civilians alongside military targets,” he said on June 4.
In May, a regime airstrike on a monastery in rural Saw Township, Magwe Region, killed at least 15 people. The following day, junta forces bombed nearby Tawma village, killing seven people.
In 2022, a junta airstrike killed over 60 people attending a concert to mark the Kachin Independence Organization’s anniversary in Kachin State’s Hpakant.
In 2023, over 180 people were killed in a similar attack on Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region’s Kantbalu Township.
The regime has so far issued no statements on its bombing of the Mataw wedding party.
