Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter | More than 100 casualties including women and children have been
reported after the airstrike done by the Myanmar military, one of the deadliest attacks so far in the civil war.
On Tuesday, Myanmar air force dropped multiple bombs directly and used helicopters blitzed into a crowd of people at 8 a.m. gathered for the opening ceremony of a local defense force office connected to junta opponents outside Pazigyi village in Sagaing region's Kanbalu township, an area 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Mandalay, the country's second largest city.
“The jet dropped bombs directly on the crowd, and I jumped into a nearby ditch and hid. A few moments later, when I stood up and looked around, I saw people cut to pieces and dead in the smoke. The office building was destroyed by fire,” a witness to Tuesday’s aerial attack told the Associated Press.
"Yes, we launched the air strike" told by General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesman for the military junta.
The deadly airstrikes on civilians by the Myanmar military is highly condemned from all corners of the world.
Volker Türk ,the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement, saying he was “horrified” by
reports of the airstrikes calling it a “blatant disregard for international law.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the attack and reiterated "his call for the military to end the campaign of violence against the Myanmar population throughout the country."
The United States urged the Myanmar military to stop the violence.
Derek Chollet, the US Department Counselor tweeted "We strongly condemn the regime's air strikes and urge the regime to cease the violence."
Myanmar's National Unity Government, a shadow body dominated by former lawmakers from ousted civilian leader Suu Kyi's party, called the strike a "heinous act".
"We... share the great pain felt by the families affected by this tragedy," it said in a statement.
The Myanmar military has increasingly used air strikes against their opponents since seizing power in February 2021 and about 3,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed since that time.
