The junta carried out an airstrike on Nyaungchayhtauk Village in Katha Township, near the Kachin State border, killing five civilians including a 10-year-old child, according to the resistance-run Katha Township People’s Administration.
At around 10 pm on October 29, a junta fighter jet conducted three bombing runs on Nyaungchayhtauk Village, destroying the prayer hall within the village monastery compound, an ambulance belonging to a local relief group, and 14 houses.
Villagers from Nyaungchayhtauk claimed that the junta aircraft dropped more than 10 bombs during the attack, including cluster munitions.
“People were killed in the airstrike — we’ve received reports of five deaths, including a 10-year-old boy and two of his family members. The plane dropped cluster bombs, which exploded one after another. Some of the bombs even fell into the water — if they hadn’t, the situation could have been far worse,” a local told KNG.
A cluster bomb is a type of weapon that opens in midair, releasing dozens or even hundreds of smaller explosive submunitions known as bomblets, that spread over a wide area.
According to the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), cluster bombs are munitions capable of causing dozens of explosions over a wide area and are internationally banned due to their highly destructive and indiscriminate impact.
The airstrike killed a 10-year-old boy, a man and a woman in their 60s, and two women in their 40s. Seven others were seriously injured, including a 90-year-old woman.
The junta carried out the unprovoked airstrike despite no recent clashes between its troops and resistance forces in the Katha area.
The Katha Township People’s Administration also accused the junta of deliberately launching the airstrike at night, calling it a cruel act intended to kill more innocent civilians.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) announced on October 29 that the junta’s brutal crackdown since the 2021 coup has killed over 7,400 pro-democracy activists and civilians, including more than 900 children.
