Junta airstrikes kill at least 12 civilians during Thingyan festival despite ceasefire declaration

Mizzima

Despite the junta’s public announcement of a ceasefire during Thingyan, Myanmar’s traditional New Year celebration, the junta carried out aerial attacks on at least 13 townships across the country over the five-day holiday, killing at least 12 civilians including a novice monk and injuring many more.

From 13 April, the eve of the Thingyan festival, through 17 April, the first day of the New Year, airstrikes were reported in several townships: Mogok, Thabeikkyin, and Natogyi in Mandalay Region; Kani, Indaw, Taze, Kawlin, Wuntho, and Ayadaw in Sagaing Region; Kyauktaw in Rakhine State; Mindat in Chin State; and Kawkareik and Kyondoe in Karen State.

On 13 April, two civilians, a man and a woman, were killed, and eight others injured when fighter jets bombed Chaunggyi village in Thabeikkyin Township, according to the Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defence Force. That same day, a woman died in an airstrike that struck a monastery in Lema village, Taze Township. Additional bombings injured several civilians in Kawlin and Wuntho townships in Sagaing Region, Kyauktaw in Rakhine State, and Mindat in Chin State.