Myanmar Civil War: ‘Air raid during village feast’ … Children killed in military bombing

“The ground shook,” recalled Win Cho, who lives in the Pajigi region of northeastern Myanmar and raises cattle. One sunny morning last week, I heard the sound of a military plane approaching, followed by an explosion.

Win Joe never thought that the town he lived in was destroyed. However, when his wife called, he heard that the army had bombed the place where the villagers were holding a rare party with curry noodles, rice, and pork.

Their 7-year-old daughter, Soi Nandar Nwe, was also there.

Win Joe rushed to the terrible scene to find his daughter.

“I found my daughter among the burnt remains in the thick smoke. My only thought was to find my daughter.”

Win Joe wanted to find the remains of her daughter’s favorite outfit, the white floral dress she wore that day.

However, there was no trace of her mother-in-law who was with her daughter at the time of the bombing, nor any trace of her daughter.

Later, villagers told the BBC that a military plane appeared and dropped bombs in the area where the party was being held, and that the army continued to fire into the village from a helicopter for 20 minutes.

“I still can’t believe it,” said Win Joe, who exploded into anger, saying, “How could you do such a thing to defenseless, vulnerable young children?”

Two years after a coup d’état plunged Myanmar into civil war, the military junta is launching more and more airstrikes to literally reduce the resistance to ashes.

On the 11th (local time), as many as 168 people, including men, women and children, were killed in an air raid by the military government. Last year, a number of children were killed in an attack on a school, and at the end of the same month, a bomb dropped on a concert hall killing around 50 people.

As a result of the BBC’s analysis of data from the conflict monitoring group ‘ACLED’, there were at least 600 airstrikes by the military government between February 2021 and January this year.

Currently, civil war in Myanmar has killed thousands of people, displaced 1.4 million people, and constitutes almost a third of the total population in need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations (UN) has stated that Myanmar’s military government could be held accountable for these crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Meanwhile, it is assumed that the military government is targeting villages believed to belong to the rebels.

Currently, in Myanmar, the ‘Citizen Defense Force (PDF)’ was formed, a voluntarily organized militia network in the region against the military government, and after the coup, the ‘National Unity Government (NUG)’ was formed. .

The military government explained that the village was also targeted in the Pajigi area because it opened an administrative office for the local PDF linked to the NUG.

The opening of the office and the village party that celebrated the opening was seen as opposition by the community and could not be tolerated.

But for 7-year-old Soi Nandar Nwe, it was an opportunity to show off her favorite floral dress to the villagers.

Even the night before the event, he would hold onto his father and talk about how excited he was to go to this party.

“I’ve never called my daughter by her first name,” Win Joe said. “I always called her ‘Daddy’s sweet baby’. My daughter loved me,” she recalled.

The girl loved riding her bike, hugging behind her father.

Even on the night before her death, Soi Nandar Nwe followed her father enough to beg her to sleep next to him. Win Jo said the last thing she remembers was kissing her daughter’s still face before going to work on the morning of the incident.

Win Jo said her daughter was a smart girl who dreamed of becoming a teacher.

“My daughter loved helping her friends with their studies. So we wanted her to grow up and do great things for her country, which is going through a very difficult time.”

On the other hand, since the military government overthrew the civilian government in a coup in 2021 and put Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, the area where Win Cho lived lived without even having a wedding, so I dreamed of coming back listening to loud music that morning when the village feast was held.

Yun Cho originally planned to take her daughter to the party, but the girl was so happy and excited that the woman asked her mother-in-law about her daughter.

At the moment the military government attack began, Soi Nandar Nwe was in a makeshift tent in the middle of the feast.

Similar air strikes had happened several times before in Sagaingen, to the north-west of the Pajigi area where they lived, but this was the first time that the Pajigi area had been hit by an air strike.

Meanwhile, Ye Naing, a farmer who lost her parents and daughter Hnin Yu Wai (3) in the air strike, said on the morning of the incident that she helped her daughter paint her face with paint made from tree bark, back to the local holiday tradition.

Meanwhile, Ye Naing, a farmer who lost her parents and daughter Hnin Yu Wai (3) in the air strike, said on the morning of the incident that she helped her daughter paint her face with paint made from tree bark, back to the local holiday tradition.

Hnin Yu Wai was one of the children at the pre-school party.

In Myanmar, which was ravaged by violence, these feasts were now rare, and so many children had gathered at the venue.

Ye Naing, who was wounded by shrapnel, testified that the bomb fell while the children were eating.

“My daughter didn’t even eat a full bowl of rice,” said Ye Naing. “My baby couldn’t even drink a glass of water.”

“I had a feeling that it was the end of the world, or worse,” said Ye Naing. “But I’m not afraid. It was an inhuman and barbaric attack. As long as they oppress and kill innocent citizens, I will fight alongside others. “

Ye Naing said her daughter was a kind and considerate child who was loved by the villagers. The girl who would ask her mother for snacks and water for her father when he returned home from a hard day.

Meanwhile, most of the 200 or so families in Pajigi lost loved ones that day. According to villagers, some people have abandoned their homes and gone into hiding for fear of further attacks.

For those who wait, their hearts sink even at the sound of motorcycle engines.

“We’re just poor farmers,” said Win Joe. “Don’t watch us get killed. How many more innocent lives would have to be sacrificed before he would act? ” he asked.

“I will never forgive him,” he added, referring to the leader of the military government, General Min Aung Hlaing.