At least 18 civilians were killed and 10 others were injured by airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar Air Force on villages in Mandalay and Sagaing regions on Saturday, according to an anti-regime group that collects and shares information from central Myanmar.
“I saw a jet fighter take off from the airport in Tada-U Township and conduct one airstrike each on Zayatkwin village in Thabeikkyin Township and Kyitaukpauk village in Singu Township,” Nagarlay, a spokesperson for the Wetlet Information Network, told DVB. He added that the two strikes occurred within five minutes of each other.
Tada-U, Thabeikkyin and Singu townships are located 39-126 miles (62-202 km) south and north of the region’s capital Mandalay. Thabeikkyin and Singu are under the control of the People’s Defense Force (PDF) and administered by the National Unity Government (NUG).
The PDF in Thabeikkyin and Singu told DVB that residents in Zayatkwin and Kyitaukpauk villages reported at least 10 killed, including children, and over 10 injured. They added that there was no ongoing fighting between the PDF and regime forces in the two villages.
Residents of Ywartawgon village in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region, reported that eight civilians were killed by airstrikes on the same day, May 10.
“We only found eight bodies. One woman has been missing since the airstrike,” a Wetlet resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Wetlet is located 50 miles (80 km) east of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa.
Sources told DVB that 16 civilians were killed and nearly 40 others were injured by airstrikes on Yayhtwak village of Thabeikkyin and Nyaungpintha in Bhamo Township of Kachin State on May 7-8. Bhamo is located 120 miles (193 km) south of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina.
These attacks followed the post-earthquake April 2-30 regime ceasefire, which elapsed May 1-5, but was extended from May 6 to 31.
The NUG unilateral ceasefire began March 30 but ended on April 20 with no further extensions into the end of April or May.
“There will be no effective ceasefire unless there is an appropriate mechanism in place by [an] impartial international monitoring and enforcement mechanism,” Kyaw Zaw, an NUG spokesperson, told DVB on Saturday.
DVB has documented that at least 349 civilians were killed by 538 air and artillery strikes carried out by the regime since March 28 with 403 of these attacks occurring after the ceasefire first began on April 2.
The U.N. reported that the regime has carried out over 489 attacks since April 2 with 211 attacks being carried out on communities in central Myanmar, where the earthquake has killed 4,477 and injured 11,366, according to DVB data.
Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, an independent group researching conflict in Myanmar, has documented that 201 civilians were killed and over 300 were injured by 244 regime airstrikes during the month of April.
