The village hospital in Banmauk Township’s Kyaung Lae Village after being hit by a regime airstrike in October 2022. / NUG
Myanmar regime airstrikes killed three civilians in Sagaing Region’s Banmauk Township on Friday. The junta bombardment followed fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and People’s Defense Forces, according to local resistance group Banmauk Revolution Force.
Clashes broke out last week in the west of Banmauk Township close to the villages of Kyaung Lae, Nar Nant Htun and Kyaut Sae.
Junta forces took heavy casualties in the fighting, according to Banmauk Revolution Force, and responded on Friday afternoon by launching airstrikes near Nar Nant Htun Village, killing three civilians.
Another airstrike took place on Sunday afternoon near Kyaung Lae Village, although residents reported no casualties.
A Banmauk resident confirmed the airstrikes in the west of the township, but communication difficulties mean few details are currently known.
“The fighting continues, but it is impossible to contact those villages because phone service is down in those areas,” a Banmauk resident told The Irrawaddy.
The Banmauk-Indaw Road has been closed following the clashes, said the Banmauk Revolution Force.
In October 2022, regime fighter jets bombed the Kyaung Lae Village hospital and the Mann Yuu Gy Village hospital, also in Banmauk.
Two people were killed and a dozen more including children injured. The hospitals were destroyed in the attack, as well as hospital staff accommodation and five houses.
Banmauk is located in northern Sagaing, one of the strongholds of the resistance to the military regime. Banmauk, along with Indaw and Katha townships, borders Kachin State, where fighting is ongoing between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar military.
Last week, the KIA attacked a junta convoy traveling the Katha-Indaw road, killing at least five soldiers and injuring many more, according to resistance group the Indaw Revolution Force.
