At least five civilians were injured when three junta fighter jets bombed villages in the upper Sagaing Region on Wednesday afternoon. A local source, who wished to remain anonymous, said some of the wounded were children. It is not yet known if anyone was killed in the airstrikes, which took place around 1pm.

Eleven houses and two Buddhist halls were destroyed in Moetargyi and Kachinsu, where at least 12 bombs were dropped, the man said. Shells landed in the market near the Byuhar Yawng Chi Buddhist monastery in Moetargyi. Residents from the villages and Moetarlay fled their homes.

 “They have dropped bombs for no reason. I think they want to attack the People’s Defence Force (PDF), but they should know that only civilians live here,” said another local who asked that his name not be mentioned.

There were clashes between a local PDF and the army in Moetarlay last November, but there has been no fighting in the area since. On 25 November, the junta carried out an airstrike on Brigade 9 of the Kachin Independence Army in the Indawgyi area of Mohnyin Township, which borders Sagaing Region.

After the junta attacked and arrested protesters who were peacefully demonstrating against the dictatorship last spring, some of them formed PDFs to fight for the restoration of democracy in Burma.