(Commentary) The Myanmar junta’s aerial attack on Pazigyi Village in Kantbalu Township of Sagaing Region this week is the worst atrocity committed in over two years since the Myanmar generals seized power in an illegal coup on 1 February 2021.
The attack has prompted international outcry with the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres speaking of his shock over the loss of life. At this stage, at least 100 people including men, women and children lost their lives in the matter, with concerns that number may rise.
Speaking to the media after the event, Human Rights Watch Asia Division Deputy Director Phil Robertson said the Myanmar military’s airstrike on the village is likely to have a chilling effect across Myanmar's society.
"I think in the future, communities will be reluctant to hold a... mass gathering of any sort, recognising that they could be bombed, they could be attacked," he said.
The Pazigyi Village massacre has arguably broken the boundaries of brutality played out by the illegal junta that is waging war on its own people.
War crime in Pazigyi Village
On the morning of 11 April, the junta army conducted an airstrike on Pazigyi Village that has gone down in the annals as the most deadly incident carried out by the Myanmar military since the coup.
As of the time of writing, at least 100 people are confirmed to have lost their lives in the attack.
Pazigyi is a village in Male Area of Kantbalu Township in Sagaing Region. On the morning of 11 April, about 150 people gathered at the opening ceremony of a new public administration office. The local people including children were enjoying a feast there. At about 8:00 am, a junta fighter jet dropped bombs on the building, killing many people including children having their meal at 17 tables.
According to the witnesses, many of the victims were blown apart by the attack, and a little later, an Mi-35 helicopter gunship opened fire on those who were running away.
Later in the day at about 5:30 pm, the junta jets carried out further bombing aimed at those attempting to collect the dead bodies.
Thousands of civilians from Pazigyi and near-by villages in this region of Sagaing have run away from their homes due to fear of attack.
NUG speaks out
The National Unity Government (NUG) released a statement claiming that the military junta no longer distinguished between civilians and armed groups in their attacks, and the incident was another piece of evidence that the junta army has repeated a war crime. On the day before the massacre in Pazigyi Village, the junta army had conducted an airstrike on Waibula Village near Falam in Chin State, killing nine people.
In response, the military junta claimed the aerial attack was not aimed at hurting civilians, and claimed falsely that the heavy explosions were due to the ignition of arms and ammunition shown at the opening ceremony of the building.
Increase of aerial attacks
The military junta has reportedly been suffering serious losses in their conflicts with the resistance and have therefore increased their air strikes since early 2022, a year after the coup.
Many of these attacks have taken place in states and regions such as Sagaing, Magwe, Kachin, Kayar, Kayin, Chin and Shan, with many of the offensives targeting civilians rather than the anti-junta forces.
In October 2022, the junta army launched an airstrike on a music concert celebrated in A Nan Pa Village of Hpakant Township in Kachin State on the anniversary of the founding of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). In that attack, over 60 people lost their lives. In August and September 2022, they did the same to Letyartgone Village and Yinbaungdine Village in Sagaing Region, killing nearly 30 people. On 10 April 2023, they carried out an aerial attack causing the death of 9 people in Waibula Village near Falam in Chin State.
In a report by the UN Special Envoy of Human Rights to Myanmar in February, the envoy called out the attacks by the junta against civilians and their property using the air force and heavy artillery.
Junta airstrike statistics
According to the Monitoring Myanmar’s Peace Programme by the Burmese News International, the statistics they have collected from 2021 to January 2023 shows that the junta armed forces have carried out air attacks for 258 days between 1 February 2021 and 25 January 2023. Reportedly, they have made at least three to five attacks per day. Since the record is only for the days with attacks in townships, the number for the whole country.
The military junta appear to have largely used aerial bombing to target the villages of civilians, schools and IDP camps. In the operation areas of the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) and the battlefields, the junta armed forces have conducted aerial attacks for 53 days in total. When it comes to similar attacks on ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), they have launched their raids on the Karen National Union (KNU) for 52 days, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) for 32 days, and the Arakan Army (AA) for 13 days respectively. In terms of the areas, they have made air attacks in nine states and regions - Kayin State for 73 days, Sagaing Region for 70 days, Kachin State for 34 days, Rakhine State for 16 days, Chin State for 14 days, and Kayah State for 13 days.
Declaration of a war crime
As the NUG Acting President Duwa Lashi La has declared, the Pazigyi attack is a war crime, adding to the many other war crimes committed by the junta over the last two years.The NUG is calling for international action against the junta including sanctions and a blockade on aviation fuel, all with the aim to dissuade the Myanmar military from continuing to carry out attacks against civilians and the terrible loss of life as seen in the Pazigyi massacre.
