Myanmar Junta air strikes village, approximately 100 expected to be dead

Many women and children among the ones killed

Myanmar's ruling junta admitted that an air raid on a hamlet on Tuesday killed at least 100 people, including many children and journalists. People gathered outside Pa Zi Gyi village in Sagaing region's Kanbalu municipality to mark the launch of a local office of the country's opposition movement.

At around 8 a.m. on Tuesday, a fighter plane dropped bombs directly upon a crowd of about 150 people, according to a witness. Women and children, as well as leaders of locally organised anti-government armed groups and other opposition organizations, were among those killed, he claimed

General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military junta, said state television, "Yes, we launched the air strike." He claimed that they chose to assault Pa Zi Gyi because the community was celebrating the opening of a new office for their local volunteer defence force.

These anti-coup militias, known as the People's Defence Forces or PDFS, are fighting the military in several districts of Myanmar. Sagaing's communities have been among the most vocal in their opposition to military authority.

The attack was strongly criticised by the United Nations, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewing his appeal for the military to halt its campaign of violence against the Myanmar people. According to Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the US State Department, such "violent attacks" highlight the "regime's disregard for human life and its responsibility for the dire political and humanitarian crisis" in the country.

"Despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, there has been blatant disregard for the related rules of international law," stated Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias have been responsible for an extremely broad range of human rights violations and abuses since 1 February 2021, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes."