BANGKOK — Myanmar military air strikes on a
concert held by a major ethnic rebel group killed around 50 people and wounded
70, the rebels said on Monday.
اضافة اعلان
“Around 8:40pm Sunday, two Myanmar military jets
attacked” a ceremony the
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) was holding, Col. Naw
Bu told AFP.
“Around 50 people were killed including KIA members
and civilians,” he said, adding that around 70 were wounded.
Local media reported that up to 60 soldiers and
civilians had been killed.
Images shared by local media purported to show the
aftermath, with debris littering the ground.
The UN’s office in Myanmar said it was “deeply
concerned and saddened by reports of airstrikes that took place in Hpakant,
Kachin State”.
“Initial reports suggest that over 100 civilians may
have been affected by the bombing,” it said in a statement.
“Numerous fatalities have also been reported,” it
added.
A junta spokesman did not respond to request for
comment.
The US embassy in Yangon said it was “following
reports of a military airstrike targeting a Kachin gathering resulting in the
deaths of a large number of civilians”.
The KIA has clashed regularly with the military for
decades, with heavy fighting erupting in the wake of last year’s coup.
Escalating violence
Myanmar has been in turmoil
since a military coup last year, with swathes of the country engulfed by
fighting.
Reports of the
strikes come days before Southeast Asian foreign ministers will hold emergency
talks to discuss strife-torn Myanmar ahead of November’s Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (
ASEAN) leaders’ summit.
The ASEAN has spearheaded so far fruitless efforts
to resolve the crisis, and the bloc is frustrated by escalating human rights
atrocities.
In September, at least 11 schoolchildren died in a
military air strike and firing on a Myanmar village in northern Sagaing region.
The junta said it had sent troops in helicopters to
Let Yet Kone after receiving a tip-off that fighters from the KIA and a local
anti-coup militia were moving weapons in the area
A number of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic rebel groups have
come out in support of the anti-coup movement, offering shelter and even
training to activists.
Last May, the KIA said it downed a military
helicopter gunship during fierce clashes near the town of Momauk in the
country’s far north.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in the
military’s crackdown on dissent since the coup and over 15,000 arrested,
according to a local monitoring group.
The junta blames
anti-coup fighters for the deaths of almost 3,900 civilians.
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