More than 50 people have been killed in the last 10 days in indiscriminate attacks on schools, displaced persons camps, hospitals, religious sites and other places. All the dead were civilians. Many others were injured, according to a report on Thursday.
The report said that at least 53 civilians were killed and 80 others injured in 10 days of airstrikes by the Myanmar junta. Fighter jets, Y12 aircraft, helicopters and motorized paragliders carried out at least 35 attacks on various targets, including schools, displacement camps, hospitals and religious sites, between February 10 and 19.
Airstrikes were reported in Magway, Sagaing, Mandalay and Tanintharyi regions, and in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan, Mon and Karenni (Kaya) states. The Taung National Liberation Army reported airstrikes on Wednesday night on housing and a government hospital in Naungkyeom, a town in northern Shan state controlled by the armed group.
The TNLA said three civilians were killed and four wounded in the airstrikes. Earlier this week, the TNLA walked out of Chinese-brokered peace talks in Kunming, Yunnan province. The armed group had warned residents to be wary of airstrikes, saying the government was targeting civilians.
The TNLA also said that junta-backed Harbin Y12 aircraft dropped 38 bombs on a village in Naunghkiaw township on Saturday. On February 10, about 20 bombs were dropped on Mogo, a TNLA-held town in northern Mandalay region, killing five civilians and wounding 19 others.
Meanwhile, thousands of people are trapped in illegal scam rings in the Thai-Myanmar border area, said Police General Thachai Pitanilabhut, head of Thailand's anti-human trafficking agency. He said that an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 people are trapped in these centers, run by 30 to 40 Chinese criminal groups. Thailand has recently launched a major operation in the border area to eradicate them. Soon after, an armed group in Myanmar released 260 scam workers, including citizens of the Philippines, Ethiopia, Brazil, Nepal and Thailand. According to UN data, hundreds of people are trafficked and trapped in these rings. They are taken to these centers with the lure of jobs through fraud and made to work against their will in online scams. News of the Irrawaddy and The Guardian.
