Guwahati: At least 62 people were killed and 70 injured Tuesday in air strikes on civilians attending the local inaugural ceremony at a community hall of Pazigyee village in Sagaing Region’s Kantbalu township, about 495 km from India-Myanmar border, according to a report.
“The toll is likely to increase due to the limited health facilities and severity of wounds,” read the report published Wednesday by the National Unity Government (NUG), a government-in-exile formed in opposition to the Myanmar junta.
The NUG report, a copy of which is available with ThePrint, also stated that a large number of women and children were gathered at the “traditional house-warming donation ceremony” at Pazigyee village when the attacks took place.
The first strike happened around 7:45 a.m. when fighter jets and a Mi-35 helicopter dropped bombs and opened fire into the crowd. The attack lasted for about 20 minutes, the NUG report said. This was followed by another air strike at 5:30 p.m. at the same place when onsite emergency search and rescue operations were being undertaken.
Pazigyee village is home to about 200 households with a population of nearly 800. Located about 156 km from the Indo-Myanmar border, Sagaing Region is considered an opposition stronghold in the northwest of Myanmar.
The killings are part of a rapidly escalating conflict between insurgent groups and the military junta. Aerial attacks in past few months had also sent thousands of refugees streaming across the border into India.
The Pazigyee attack was one of the deadliest strikes in two years since the Myanmar military seized power in February 2021, reports said, with even the United Nations strongly condemning the incident.
In a statement released Tuesday, the NUG stated that about 18 children and pregnant women were among those killed at Pazigyee.
Frontline emergency response teams were formed with the local defence forces, local administrative bodies. Healthcare teams are conducting emergency relief operations on the ground, said Wednesday’s status report.
There are remains of dead bodies that cannot be identified, and those identified were cremated according to traditional customs, the report mentioned. The exact number of displaced people cannot be ascertained as villagers from Pazigyee and adjoining areas have fled to safer places, it added.
“Food and medicine are urgently needed as the communities are frightened to go back to the village due to this traumatic experience,” the statement read.
Media reports, meanwhile, said some of those killed include members of locally constituted civilian militias and other opposition groups.
On Tuesday, the NUG Ministry of Defence said the State Administrative Council (SAC), as the junta government is known, is committing war crimes. The heinous act by the military is “yet another example of the indiscriminate use of extreme force against innocent civilians”, it said.
“The cycle of military coups in Myanmar must come to an end, and the military dictatorship must be eradicated once and for all, for the people of Myanmar to establish a stable and peaceful society,” its statement added.
Meanwhile, showing solidarity with the people of Kambalu, the Monywa University Students’ Union and others held a protest in Salingyi Township of Sagaing Region Tuesday.
UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk released a statement Tuesday narrating the horrific ordeal faced by the civilians.
“It appears school children performing dances, as well as other civilians, attending an opening ceremony at the hall in Pazigyee village, Kanbalu Township were among the victims. A helicopter gunship then reportedly fired on those fleeing the hall,” the statement said.
“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.”
The UN Human Rights chief further said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias are 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.”
“I firmly believe the international justice processes now underway will one day hold the military leadership accountable for such crimes,” Türk’s statement asserted.
In a separate attack at Falam Township on 10 April, Myanmar military’s fighter jets dropped bombs at Waibula township, killing 9 civilians and injuring 20 others.
On the morning of March 30, nine persons, including five children, were killed in aerial bombings at Khuafo village in Thantlang Township of Chin State. Khuafo is a small village of around 60 households, located about 10km north of Thantlang town. Sources said some of the injured from Khuafo have been brought to border towns in Mizoram for treatment.
(This is an updated version of the report)
(Edited by Tony Rai)