The air force has bombed Nyautho Gyi township in central Mandalay Region for 4 days, killing eight people, including children, according to local residents and resistance groups. A bomb hit Aung Pang Kone village, located on the Nyautho Gyi-Ma Hlaing road, about 5 miles south of the city, at around 5:30 a.m. today (December 5), killing three members of a family, a local man said.
The dead were U Kyaw Thu Moe, Daw Khin Aye Kyin and their son Mg. Aung Pyih Hyian (9), a 25-year-old local man from a nearby village. “When we were cooking in the morning, the plane came and we ran to the bed, the father and son, hugging each other, and the child died. The child fell directly on the tent,” he said. The deceased family were palm oil workers, and their 13-year-old daughter survived because she was in the village at the time, he added. The family is planning to cremate Maung Aung Pyae Hyain and has also bought rice and other items to donate.
This morning, four military planes flew over Aung Tha village, about 2 miles south of the city, dropping about 20 bombs, the man said. “This is not a jet fighter, but four bombs in a row,” he said. He himself was a survivor of the bombing of Nyautho Gyi Township last month, but lost his home. Yesterday (December 4), Lone Taw village, about 8 miles west of the city, was also hit by airstrikes, killing a young man and injuring a monk and a nun. Details about the deceased youth were not available.
Similarly, on December 3, at 10 p.m., a local farmer who was close to the village of Kwan On, more than 16 miles southwest of the city, killed 66-year-old Daw Khin Po and her grandson, 11-year-old Maung Man Shing Kyi, according to a local farmer who was familiar with the incident. He said that some people were injured in the airstrike, even losing their limbs. On August 20, without any fighting, the air force dropped two bombs on Kwan On village, killing two villagers and wounding four.
Many villagers were forced to hide in the mountains due to these incidents, said a farmer from Thamin Bei village, not far from Kwan On village in Nyaung To Gyi Township. “When the planes come, you can hear them. When they come, you are afraid. It’s the same. In the village, you can’t stay still. You have to hide with your family, in the forest,” he said. “We are constantly bombarding each other, so we don’t know exactly which villages will be bombarded.”
On December 2 and 3, two students studying Korean were killed in an airstrike on Nabe Myit village near Nyaung-gu Township. The villages were attacked by aircraft without any fighting, according to an official from the Nyaung-gu Township People’s Defense Organization (PDO).
“We used to advance in three or four lines, and when the lines didn’t move forward, we used drones, airstrikes, and so on,” he said. Nyaung-gu Township, which is located on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River, is a region with strong armed resistance.
The villages that were hit by the airstrikes were located between Myin-chan and Taung-chan, west of Nyaung-gu Township. The military council’s headquarters in Nyaung-gu Township, Myin-chan District, were attacked by the rebels on the morning of August 10. That day, the revolutionary forces took positions even in the city, and retreated the same day after receiving heavy airstrikes.
On that day, the military council’s positions in Taungtha Township and Myingyan Township, located on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River, were attacked simultaneously under the name of “Myingyan District Special Operation.” The area was flat and well-connected, allowing the revolutionary forces to attack even in the city, and the military council responded with airstrikes, causing many civilians to be injured.
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