A Myanmar military airstrike killed at least seven civilians including three children on Thursday in conflict-torn Sagaing Region, one of the country’s resistance strongholds.
The three children – a girl aged six and two boys aged one and three – were killed when a junta fighter jet dropped six bombs on Peik Ka Yar Village in the west of Sagaing’s Mingin Township at around 1pm on Thursday.
Four adults were also killed and another 15 civilians injured in the airstrike, according to local sources.
“Four people were killed on the spot and the three-year-old boy died on the way to hospital,” said a local resistance fighter.
He added that the 15 injured people are receiving medical treatment and that more detailed information is still not available as communications are down in the area.
Other sources said that some of the wounded were not allowed to enter Kale Town for treatment at Kale Hospital.
One resistance fighter from Mingin’s People’s Defense Force (PDF) Battalion 1 sustained injuries while rescuing villagers during the airstrikes.
The Irrawaddy could not verify the claims independently.
There was no reported fighting between regime troops and resistance forces in the area where the fighter jet launched the airstrike.
Residents of Peik Ka Yar Village claimed the regime jet deliberately targeted the village.
“I have no idea why they targeted us. There is no PDF base in our village,” one villager said.
The military regime has stepped up its attacks on civilian targets in resistance strongholds, according to PDF fighters.
In April, a junta airstrike on Pazi Gyi Village in Sagaing’s Kantbalu Township killed at least 175 civilians including women and children, according to witnesses.
