Myanmar Military Airstrike on Magway Village Kills at Least 11 Civilians, AFP Reports
Myanmar's military carried out an airstrike on a village in Yesagyo Township, Magway Region, on the afternoon of October 16. According to Agence France-Presse, Bo Paw, a member of the People's Defence Force (PDF), said at least 11 civilians were killed, including six women and two children. Among the dead were a one-year-old who had only recently begun walking and an 11-year-old schoolboy riding a bicycle.
A witness told AFP that three houses near the point of impact were completely destroyed and that all 11 victims were killed at the scene. Yesagyo Township, southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, is controlled by the PDF, a resistance force that emerged after the February 2021 coup and has fought alongside ethnic armed groups against the military authorities.
Local Myanmar media reported that the strike hit a shop in the village offering satellite internet service, where residents had gathered to go online, and put the death toll at 15. With phone lines cut and military drones still hovering overhead, the exact casualty figures remain under verification. AFP said the Myanmar military could not be reached for comment.
Since the military seized power in February 2021, Myanmar's civil war has killed tens of thousands of civilians and displaced more than 3.5 million people. The military frequently uses airstrikes against resistance-held areas, with civilian casualties repeatedly reported at markets, residential neighborhoods and religious sites. (GSM, based on AFP reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 缅甸空军战斗机（资料图）。Photo by M Radzi Desa, Wikimedia Commons, GFDL 1.2.
