CJ

 

At least 25 civilians were killed across Myanmar on Friday as junta airstrikes pounded villages, shelters, and rebel-held areas in one of the deadliest single-day attacks this year.

 

The most devastating strike hit a monastery in Linn Ta Luu village, Sagaing Township, where around 200 displaced civilians were seeking refuge from earlier military raids. According to the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), 22 people, including three children, were killed in the morning raid. More than 50 others were seriously injured.

 

The military aircraft continued its assault, bombing nearby Kyaw Zayar village and later striking Yay Lal Maw village in Wetlet Township with machine-gun fire and six bombs. Two more civilians were killed, and at least five others wounded, according to the local Wetlet Informational Network.

 

In a chilling escalation, a Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter was filmed strafing Yay Lal Maw from the air later that afternoon, as junta forces intensified aerial operations across Sagaing Region — a stronghold of resistance forces.

 

Separately, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) reported strikes in northern Shan State, where a hotel and a former police post in Kyaume were targeted. One man died and five others were injured in the attack. The junta has ramped up bombings in TNLA territory since the group refused to cede ground during China-mediated ceasefire talks in April.

 

Other attacks included a paramotor bombing of a school in Myaing Township, Magwe Region, though no casualties were reported.

 

Since seizing power in the 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military regime has conducted over 3,000 airstrikes, killing more than 3,200 civilians — nearly 500 of them children — according to NUG figures. Airstrikes remain a central tactic in the junta’s brutal campaign to suppress resistance ahead of a proposed election, tentatively set for December or January.

 

Critics, including Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, say the junta’s focus on staging elections while escalating violence is deeply misguided. “The priority should be ending violence and holding inclusive peace talks,” he said at the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week.

 

With bombs now falling on schools, monasteries, and homes, the calls for peace grow ever more urgent — but in Myanmar’s skies, the war shows no sign of slowing.

 

-2025-07-14

On 7/14/2025 at 8:43 AM, geovalin said:

With bombs now falling on schools, monasteries, and homes

Russian-style terrorism against Ukrainian civilians.