Up to 100 people, including children, were killed in a junta airstrike in the Sagaing area of northwest Myanmar on Tuesday, according to media reports.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative reform that included rule by a civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Some opponents of military rule have taken up arms, in places joining ethnic minority insurgents, and the military has responded with air strikes and heavy weapons, including in civilian areas.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Sagaing air attack and called for those responsible to be held accountable, his spokesman said.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said late on Tuesday the attack on the ceremony held by the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration, for their armed People’s Defence Force (PDF) was aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region.
Kyaw Zaw, a NUG spokesman, said it is believed nearly 100 people were killed in the attack when air force jets dropped bombs on villagers, and helicopter gunships then followed up. He called it “another senseless, barbaric, brutal attack by the military”.
Meanwhile, Thai government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said yesterday Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was following the situation on the border, where Myanmar refugees have been sheltered in tambon Tha Sai Luat and in tambon Mae Kasa in the Mae Sot district of Tak province. Some refugees were sent to a shelter in tambon Mae Cha Rao in Mae Ramat district.