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Myanmar army defends airstrike after war crimes allegations

The Myanmar army defended an air strike against a party organized by an ethnic minority in conflict with the ruling military regime as a justified response to attacks in the region, after opponents accused the junta of targeting civilians and committing war crimes.

THE mediaciting witnesses, reported that three planes carried out the attack, which killed at least 50 civilians, including singers and officers from the Kachin Independence Army, in the airstrikes that took place late Sunday night in Kachin state. , in the north.

The military said its forces are responding to ambushes and other attacks by the KIA and armed groups on its forces and that it abides by international rules of engagement.

“As security forces, they are responsible for fighting the rebels, which is essential for the pace and stability in the region, “he added in a statement posted on a site web military.

The Kachin Independence Army has fought intermittently for six decades for greater autonomy for the Kachin people. He expressed support for opposition to the military government in the wake of last year’s coup, when generals ousted an elected civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The government of national unity, a compound shadow government in largely by supporters of Suu Kyi, accused the military of targeting civilians and called on the United Nations and the international community to intervene and stop “the atrocities and war crimes committed by the junta”.

Service in The BBC’s Burmese language said the airstrike in the Ah Nang Ba district of Bakan municipality killed at least 50 people, while the Kachin News Group said around 80 were killed and 100 injured.

The military described the reports as “rumors”. His own estimate did not mention the number of casualties, but only said that KIA members and “terrorists” had been killed.

Violence has rocked Myanmar since the military overthrew an elected government early last year. Since then, opposition movements, some of them armed, have emerged in the whole country and the army is facing them with brute force.

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