The junta regularly uses air attacks to target resistance groups, but kills and injures mostly civilians in the attacks. - Facebook
BANGKOK: Dozens of civilians were killed or injured in an aerial attack on a wedding party in Myanmar's Sagaing region on Monday (June 3), a spokesman for the People's Defence Force (PDF) resistance movement told dpa.
The attack by the country's military junta, which seized power in a February 2021 coup, had struck the settlement of Mingin in the region, he said.
At least 20 people had been killed and a further 30 severely injured. The casualties included women and children, he said.
The spokesman said the aerial attack had been launched as people started gathering for the wedding in the morning. After an initial bombardment from the air, the military had followed up with heavy weapons, he said.
This prevented assistance to the injured and recovery of the bodies, according to local reports. Local media reported that the bride was a member of the local PDF. She and her groom are both reported to have been killed. The information could not be independently verified.
Mingin, which lies in the west of the South-East Asian country formerly known as Burma, has emerged as a PDF stronghold.
The junta regularly uses air attacks to target resistance groups, but kills and injures mostly civilians in the attacks. Fighting has engulfed the country since the coup, with ethnic groups, some of them linked to China, battling the junta's generals.
The Special Advisory Council made up of independent international experts said in its latest report issued last week that the junta had completely lost control over local authorities covering 86% of the country and home to 67% of the population. - dpa
