At least five civilians, including two children, were injured in a regime airstrike in Moetargyi in upper Sagaing Region. Local sources told NMG that two fighter jets dropped about 20 bombs on the village around noon on Wednesday, 12 January. One of the injured children was taken to the hospital in Katha, the town based on George Orwell's fictitious novel Burmese Days.

"We only heard the sounds of the fighter jets flying overhead. It all happened so fast and we did not see the planes," a man, who does not wish to be named, told NMG. After bombing the village, the planes fired machine guns, he said. At least six houses were destroyed and the bombs landed near the village's school and market.

"This is not a war zone, so I don't understand why they bombed us," said a 50-year-old woman asking to remain anonymous. She said a Buddhist Dhamma hall, a house belonging to a Burmese family, three houses belonging to Kachin families and a rice store were burnt to the ground. Local residents were trying to put out the fires caused by the bombing.

Fighting in the Sagaing Region has intensified since the regime launched a clearance campaign to drive out civilian resistance groups that have challenged the dictatorship and inflicted a high death toll on the Burma Army, despite being poorly armed.