The military junta in Burma has confirmed that it carried out an air strike which, on Tuesday, April 11, left dozens dead in a village in the center of the country. The attack was immediately condemned by the international community.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said “horrified” and the world body called for those responsible to be brought to justice. “It seems that children who were dancing, along with other civilians, during the opening ceremony of a center in the village of Pazi Gyi, Kanbalu district, were among the victims”Mr. Türk said in a statement.
At least 50 dead and dozens injured have been reported by BBC Burmese, The Irrawaddy and Radio Free Asia, but the death toll could rise to 100 according to a rescue worker from an armed rebel group contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), who mentioned the presence of women and children among the victims. Witnesses contacted by AFP also reported around a hundred deaths. Videos circulating on social networks (the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm) show bodies scattered in houses in ruins.
“There was an opening ceremony of a People’s Defense Force (PDF) office… [mardi] morning around 8 am in the village of Pazi Gyi. We attacked this place”, confirmed the spokesman of the junta, Zaw Min Tun. According to him, some of the dead were anti-coup fighters in uniform and he acknowledged “that there might be people wearing civilian clothes”but did not cite a track record. “According to the information we have obtained on the ground, the people killed are not just because of our attack. There were mines planted by the PDFs around this area”did he declare.
” Contempt “
Washington thought “deeply concerned” by these attacks, which “once again underline the regime’s disregard for human life and its responsibility for the terrible political and humanitarian crisis that has raged in Burma since the February 2021 coup”State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.
“The United States calls on the Burmese regime to end this horrific violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the true democratic and inclusive aspirations of the Burmese people.”he added.
Mr. Türk accused the Burmese army of having once again ignored “clear legal obligations (…) to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities” and to have demonstrated a “blatant disregard for the rules of international law relating thereto”.
In a tweet, the German Foreign Ministry also condemned on Tuesday evening “the Burmese army airstrike that killed dozens of civilians, including children”. “We demand that the regime cease all violence against the population immediately”added the text.
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The National Unity Government (NUG), a body founded by former deputies of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, many of them in exile, and which brings together an opposition party to the junta, denounced a “another example of the indiscriminate use of extreme force against innocent civilians”.
A country torn apart since the February 1, 2022 coup
The Sagaing region, near Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, is fiercely resisting the junta, and intense fighting has been going on there for months.
The UN High Commissioner felt that there was “reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias are responsible for a wide range of human rights violations and abuses since 1er February 2021 ».
Burma has been torn apart by a violent conflict between the junta and its opponents since the coup d’etat of 1er February 2021. The Burmese army is banking on its air advantage, thanks to its Russian and Chinese-made jets, to compensate for its difficulties on the ground, facing rebel groups which control parts of the country.
The United Nations counted more than 300 airstrikes in 2022, as well as several incidents involving civilian casualties.