A funeral for some of the victims killed in a junta airstrike in Kyaikto Township, Mon State, was itself hit by another airstrike, causing further casualties, locals said.
The attack took place in Kyaukhpyar Village Tract, part of Kyaikto Township, the operational area of the Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 1.
On June 18, a junta fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb on Chaungsauk Village in Kyaukhpyar Village Tract, killing four people.
Then, at around 10:30 a.m. on June 19, another airstrike struck as residents were preparing to cremate some of those killed in the earlier attack at Sintwin Village in the same village tract, a woman from Kyaikto Township who witnessed the attack told KIC.
“I was on my way to the funeral for those killed in the airstrike when my motorbike broke down halfway, so I was delayed. Then the funeral site itself was bombed, and I had to run for my life. I’ve never seen an airstrike that close before. I don’t know how many people were injured, but I heard at least one person was hurt,” she said.
Those killed in the June 18 airstrike included both civilian villagers and some resistance fighters, according to local resistance forces and residents.
KIC is still investigating the casualty toll from the second day’s airstrike in Kyaikto Township, where the attacks occurred on two consecutive days.
Locals also reported that the junta had been attacking villages in Kyaukhpyar Village Tract with indiscriminate artillery shelling.
