Last Updated: April 13, 2023, 09:02 IST
This photo provided by the Kyunhla Activists Group shows aftermath of an airstrike in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region’s Kanbalu Township, Myanmar. (Credits: AP)
The military junta confirmed that it had ‘launched limited air strikes’ after receiving a tip-off from locals about the event
At least 133 people, including women and children, were killed in the air strike on a village in Myanmar carried out by the military Junta on Tuesday.
The death toll from the strike, one of the deadliest attacks in recent years, remained unclear as reports estimated the fatalities to be over 100.
However, a report in CNN quoting the human rights minister Aung Myo Min, said 133 people, including women and children, were killed in the strike.
The death toll also includes 20 children while 50 more people were injured in the strike.
The strike was carried out on Tuesday morning in the remote Kantbalu township in Sagaing region, where around 300 people had gathered in Pazigyi Village to celebrate the opening of a local administration office.
The military junta confirmed that it had “launched limited air strikes” after receiving a tip-off from locals about the event. It said that some of the dead were anti-coup fighters in uniform while acknowledging “there could be some people with civilian clothes.”
The strike by the military junta received international condemnation with several nations and international agencies criticising the Myanmar military.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified” by the deadly air strike, whose victims he said included schoolchildren performing dances, with the global body calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.
France’s foreign ministry said that the “abominable” strike demonstrated “the strategy of indiscriminate violence the Myanmar junta has inflicted on Myanmar’s people for more than two years”. The US also denounced the “reprehensible” attack.
Following a coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021, the military’s crackdown on dissent and armed groups opposed to their rule has left more than 3,200 people dead, according to a local monitoring group.
The military, which accuses anti-coup fighters of being terrorists, has faced international condemnation for razing villages, mass killings and air strikes on civilians.
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