Drone attack kills 8, injures 30 in Sagaing region

Eight people were killed and 30 injured when a drone struck a pavilion at a water festival in a village in the Sagaing region of northern Myanmar.

Locals said most of those injured in Thursday’s attack on Sagaing township’s Kywei Pon village were junta troops and members of the affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militia who were gathering there to celebrate the Thingyan festival on New Year’s Eve. new burmese.

A board statement released Friday confirmed the death toll and said five children were among the dead. He blamed the local People’s Defense Force for the attack, saying the drone dropped four bombs on the building.

A resident told RFA that the board built the pavilion on a school soccer field. He said junta troops have been stationed in Sagaing Township, near the village, since the February 2021 coup and are often attacked by local People’s Defense Forces.

“I saw three cars carrying the injured to the 200-bed hospital in Sagaing this morning,” said the local, who did not want to be named for security reasons.

“The army fired heavy artillery shells around the town after the incident.”

Thursday, the first day of the water festival, was marked by a series of bombings of junta-built Thingyan pavilions.

Four people died and 11 were injured in Shan state lashio city.

Bombs also hit Bago region’s Letpadan township and Yangon’s Thaketa and Hlaingtharya townships, but no one was injured.

No group has claimed responsibility for any of Thursday’s attacks.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.