CNN
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Dozens of individuals have reportedly been killed in military airstrikes at a celebratory occasion in Myanmar’s mountainous Kachin state on Sunday, drawing worldwide condemnation of the junta that seized energy within the nation greater than a yr and a half in the past.
Victims had been attending an occasion organized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mark the 62nd anniversary of the armed ethnic insurgent group’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), KIO General Secretary La Nan stated on Tuesday.
La Nan stated each women and men had been amongst about 50 folks killed, although no kids have been recognized among the many victims but. Another 54 are injured, many with burns and shrapnel wounds, he added.
CNN can not independently confirm the variety of reported deaths.
La Nan stated the occasion, which included musical performances, was one of many group’s most vital annual festivities, with “hundreds, if not thousands” in attendance together with artists, enterprise house owners and elders. Many had traveled from throughout the state to attend, he stated.
“We understand the intention of (the airstrikes) was largely to inflict chaos and massive pain to the public, in a large volume and with as much damage as they could inflict,” La Nan stated.
The military junta, which overthrew the government in a bloody coup final February, claimed on Monday that studies of civilian deaths from the airstrikes had been “fake news.”
It claimed the airstrikes had focused the KIA’s military base, in response to the group’s earlier raids and assaults on passenger vessels alongside the Irrawaddy River. It additionally claimed it had adopted worldwide conventions “so as to ensure peace and stability of the region.”
La Nan refuted the junta’s declare, saying the celebration had been held within the A Nang Pa area – a small space the place vacationers typically cease by a market. It’s “nowhere close to military installations,” he stated.
Though KIO personnel had been in attendance, “they were not there as military personnel but as entertainers,” serving to welcome visitors and performing, he added.
Since the coup, rights teams and observers say freedoms and rights in Myanmar have deteriorated; state executions have returned and the variety of documented violent assaults by the military on faculties has surged.
Numerous armed rebel groups have emerged, whereas tens of millions of others proceed resisting the junta’s rule by way of strikes, boycotts and different types of civil disobedience.
Myanmar’s shadow authorities, the National Unity Government – a bunch of ousted lawmakers, coup opponents and ethnic minority group representatives – condemned the assault in a press release on Monday, saying the military had “deliberately committed another mass killing.”
The assault “clearly violates international laws as the provisions of the Geneva Conventions,” it stated within the assertion, urging the worldwide neighborhood and United Nations to “take effective actions urgently.”
The NUG operates undercover or by way of members overseas, searching for to achieve recognition because the reputable authorities of Myanmar.
The assault on Sunday drew worldwide condemnation, with the United Nations saying it was involved over studies of greater than 100 civilians impacted.
“While the UN continues to verify the details of this attack, we offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those who were killed or injured. The UN calls for those injured to be availed urgent medical treatment, as needed,” it stated in a press release on Monday.
It added that the military’s “excessive and disproportionate” use of pressure towards unarmed civilians was “unacceptable,” and known as on these accountable to be held to account.
La Nan, the KIO official, stated the military had sealed off the roads surrounding A Nang Pa after the assault, imposed an web and telecommunications blackout, and deployed plainclothes officers to native hospitals – that means victims of the assault have little to no entry to medical care.
“They are taking refuge in nearby makeshift clinics and rudimentary medical facilities in the mining area. Most of their relatives are very worried because there is very little access to medicine,” he stated, calling it a “deliberate blockade.”
The KIO and area people is now attempting to get better all of the victims, and “have a proper burial according to our traditions and our religious rituals,” he stated – including that about 10 our bodies had been past identification.
CNN can not independently confirm the present scenario.
On Monday, the ambassadors of Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint assertion condemning the strike.
“This attack underscores the military regime’s responsibility for crisis and instability in Myanmar and the region and its disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law,” the joint assertion learn.
Non-profit group Amnesty International stated in a press release the military’s actions – together with executing pro-democracy activists, jailing journalists and concentrating on civilians – have been allowed to proceed “in the face of an ineffective international response.”
“As officials and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) prepare to host high-level meetings in the coming weeks, this attack highlights the need to overhaul the approach to the crisis in Myanmar,” the assertion stated, urging ASEAN leaders to take motion after they meet for his or her annual summit in November.
