Bodies were uncovered after a military air raid in Myanmar's Magway

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

According to a news report, the bodies of at least nine individuals were discovered in Myanmar's central area following a suspected military air raid, with the majority of the dead being civilians, including two children.

The victims were recovered by members of a search and rescue team who arrived on the outskirts of Hnan Khar village in Magway region's Gangaw township following the attack, according to Myanmar Now.

 

According to the article, just two of the victims were members of an anti-coup self-defense squad, with the remainder being civilians.

Residents in the area and an anti-coup militia spokesman informed the AFP news agency that military personnel had dispatched at least one helicopter to carry out an air raid as the military administration tries to shatter resistance to the coup.

 

According to Myanmar Now, the deadly air strike was carried out by as many as three helicopters.

Another resident told AFP that the military used five helicopters in the attack and that troops fired from the air on the 6,000-person community.

 

Following the February coup, anti-coup militias have risen up across Myanmar to fight back; the military government has responded with a crackdown on dissent that has murdered more than 1,300 people, according to a local monitoring group.

 

According to AFP, these "people's defence forces" (PDFs) have astonished the army with their effectiveness, trapping General Min Aung Hlaing's men in a bloodbath.

 

‘Credible and sickening’

 

Residents told AFP that military personnel used helicopters and jet jets to raid a PDF meeting in Magway's neighbouring central region of Sagaing on Friday.

Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun confirmed that helicopters were utilised in a raid, but did not specify how they were employed.

He stated that he did not have any casualty data.

 

When ground soldiers are having difficulty, the military often deploys helicopters and airborne attacks, according to analysts.

During heavy confrontations near the town of Momauk in May, the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic rebel group in Myanmar's far north, claimed to have shot down a military helicopter gunship.

The US and the UN both slammed the military earlier this month for what Washington termed as "credible and horrifying" accounts of the deaths of 11 residents, including children.