Myanmar Military Assaults Rebel Gathering, Killing 50: Reports, Militias

Myanmar’s military, which got rid of an elected government in 2021, has been criticized around the world for killing civilians and people who support freedom.

At least 50 people were killed Tuesday in central Myanmar when the military bombed a meeting of people who didn’t agree with its rule. This was reported by the media and members of a local resistance movement.

Residents of the Sagaing area told BBC Burmese, Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Irrawaddy news portal that between 50 and 100 people, including civilians, had died in the attack.

Reuters couldn’t check the reports right away, and a phone call to a military spokesman for feedback went unanswered.

Since a military coup in 2021, Myanmar has been in a lot of trouble. Attacks by ethnic minority armies and resistance fighters have challenged the military’s rule. In response, the military has used air strikes and heavy weapons, even in residential areas.

A member of the local anti-junta militia, the People’s Defense Force (PDF), told Reuters that fighter jets had fired on a gathering to open their local office.

“Right now, we don’t know how many people have died. “We can’t get all the bodies back yet,” said a member of the PDF who didn’t want to be named.

The United Nations says that fighting after the coup has forced at least 1.2 million people to leave their homes.

Since a jet struck a concert in Kachin State in October, killing at least 50 civilians, local singers, and members of an armed ethnic minority group, there have been a number of air strikes. Tuesday’s attack could be one of the deadliest.

Myanmar’s pro-democracy government in exile, the National Unity Government, condemned the attack, calling it “yet another example of the military’s use of extreme force against civilians.”

A human rights group, ethnic minority fighters, and the media say that an air strike on a village in northwest Myanmar last month killed at least eight civilians, some of whom were children.

The military has rejected accusations from other countries that it has hurt civilians and says it is fighting “terrorists” who want to make the country unstable.

The West has put restrictions on the junta and its huge business network to try to stop it from making money and getting arms from key sources like Russia.