Myanmar junta airstrike kills children playing by a church, group says

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with China killing nine of them including children, days after the junta chief reiterated a call for peace talks, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia.

Fighting in Myanmar is expected to intensify in coming weeks as forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 take advantage of the dry season to try to recapture territory lost to guerrilla groups over the past year, and despite efforts by neighboring China to promote dialogue.

In northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, fighters from the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, have made significant gains this year, capturing numerous military positions as well as jade and rare earth mines and most crossings on the border with China.

The military has responded with airstrikes, which insurgents and rights groups say are often targeted at civilians in a bid by the military to scare off support for the rebels.

A junta plane dropped a bomb on a church in Kachin state’s Konlaw village on Friday, next to a camp for people displaced by fighting, killing nine of them, said a KIA information officer, Naw Bu said.

“It hit kids from the camp who were playing in the area at the time, the camp itself and the church,” Naw Bu said.

“In just one family, the father, the mother, and all their kids, six people in total, died,” he said, adding that nine people were killed in all.

He said there was no instigation for the attack, adding that an attack on displaced civilians and a religious building was a war crime. Eleven people were wounded, seven critically, and were being treated at a hospital near Lai Zar on the Chinese border, he said.

RFA tried to telephone military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment but he did not answer.

Many Kachin people are Christian as are members of some of the other ethnic minorities in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar’s hilly border lands.

The KIA captured Kung Law, which is to the east of the town of Bhamo, in late March in fighting that displaced about 3,000 people.

The deadly bombing comes days after the junta chief, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, reiterated during a visit to China a call for peace talks with the rebel forces fighting for self-determination and to end military rule.

Anti-junta forces have dismissed Min Aung Hlaing’s call as aimed at appeasing China, which is pressing for an end to the bloody turmoil in its south neighbor that threatens its economic interests there, including energy pipelines running up from the Indian Ocean and mining projects.

Insurgents say they expect offensives against them in different parts of the country this dry season, which usually begins in November and enables the military to advance with its heavy vehicles over poor roads.

Naw Bu identified those killed in the airstrike as Sut Zai Li, 5, May Sen Pan, 7, Gum Seng Maw, 9, Tsawm San, 10, Mung Htoi Awng, 11, Sa Ra Seng, 11 Myu Jet Awn, 13, Lazum Lung Wa, 35 and Mun Mai 36.

From January to October, airstrikes killed 540 people nationwide, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners human rights group said in a report on Nov. 6.

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Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff.