Reportedly, three jets bombed an outdoor concert, killing at least 80 people attending a performance by popular Burmese singer Aurali Lahpai in northern Burma (also known as Myanmar) on Sunday.
It was reported that one bomb struck near the main stage on October 23. It killed Lahpai, several other performers, senior military officials, and dozens of others, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
The concert was being held at a base reportedly used for armed training in ethnic Kachin rebel territory within the A Nang Pa region of Hpakant township.
The airstrikes comprised the deadliest aerial attack allegedly by Myanmar’s military regime since it took power in a coup last year.
Sunday’s attack has prompted renewed calls for a global arms embargo against the junta, tougher banking sanctions, and a ban on aviation fuel sales.
Naw Bu, a Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) spokesperson, said the attack targeted a 62nd-anniversary celebration of the founding of the Kachin army’s political wing.
“This is quite a wicked act that can be also considered war crimes,” Bu said.
Since the coup, an open battle has raged between the Myanmar army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which supports the anti-junta resistance.
Myanmar’s military defended the airstrikes, saying, “As security forces, they are responsible for fighting insurgents, which is essential for regional peace and stability.”
Reportedly, the military claimed the strike was in response to numerous KIA ambushes and attacks.
The strikes on Sunday were carried out per international rules of engagement and were a “necessary operation” in answer to “terrorist” actions carried out by the Kachin group, Myanmar’s military stated.
It also dismissed reports of a high death toll as “rumors based on fake news, false news, and extorted news.” Indeed, the Associated Press could not confirm tolls independently.
Following last year’s coup and the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose citizen government reportedly committed genocide against Rohingya Muslim minorities, the KIA has been vocal in its opposition to military rule.
A video purportedly taken the next day at the concert venue was shared on social media. It showed strewn debris, damaged wooden structures, and abandoned motorbikes.
An air force pilot who defected after last year’s military coup, Zay Thu Aung, told Myanmar Now, “It is very possible that they used [Russian-made] Yak-130s because that kind of jet can drop 500-pound bombs or 1,100 pounds bombs at night.”
However, conspicuously absent in the video are craters and scorch marks, as one person pointed out in his comment on the post. “Looks like a storm or landslide,” one user said.
Photos obtained by NYT and reportedly confirmed by rescue workers showed dozens of dead victims lying in rows on plastic tarps on the ground.
