Myanmar junta bombs insurgent-held gem-mining hub killing 9

The air raid was aimed at civilians and has spread fear in the town under rebel control since July.

Nov 12, 2024 - 17:00

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Myanmar junta bombs insurgent-held gem-mining hub killing 9

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

Updated on Nov. 12, 2024 at 2:24 p.m. ET

Junta forces bombed a famous ruby-mining town under insurgent control in central Myanmar killing nine people and wounding 13 in a deliberate attack on civilians, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

Junta aircraft bombed three neighborhoods in Mogok on Monday at around 11 p.m. while one of the military’s Russian helicopters also fired into the town for about 30 minutes, they said.

“Nine people died. We have to say it really impacted them badly. The junta wasn’t fighting, they were targeting residents,” said Lway Yay Oo, a spokesperson for the anti-junta Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA.

The insurgent group is part of a three-member alliance that has made striking gains over the past year in northeast Myanmar against forces of the junta that seized power in 2021. The TNLA has been in control of Mogok, in the Mandalay region, since July.

Six men and three women were killed in the air raid, said Lway Yay Oo, adding that a child was among the 13 people being treated for their wounds.

Radio Free Asia could not independently verify details of the attack and calls to Mandalay’s junta spokesperson, Thein Htay, went unanswered.

TNLA fighters were combing through the rubble of 10 homes that were destroyed in the airstrike, said one resident of the town that has been famed for hundreds of years for its rubies and other gem stones.

“They shot directly into residential neighborhoods so everyone is afraid,” said the resident.

Tea shop bombed

Also Tuesday, another airstrike hit a tea shop in Shan state, in the north of the country, killing 11 civilians and injuring 10 more.

A resident of the town of Nawnghkio said people were inside the Lan San tea shop, located on the Muse-Mandalay Union Road, when it was hit.

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TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo told RFA that it was initially reported that 11 civilians were killed and four were injured in the airstrike in Nawnghkio.

Due to ongoing fighting, phone and internet lines have been cut in Nawnghkio, preventing RFA from independently confirming the identities of the deceased.

RFA also attempted to contact Khun Thein Maung, Shan state Minister of Economy, and the spokesman for the junta in Shan state, but he did not respond.

The Myanmar military has been pushed back in different regions of the country over the past year and has increasingly been resorting to airstrikes, on both insurgent positions and civilian areas, human rights groups say.

Between January and October, junta airstrikes killed 540 civilians, according to the advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by Kiana Duncan and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by RFA staff.

Update adds information about Nawnghkio airstrike.