'Eleven civilians killed in military airstrike in Burma'

A military air attack on a village in central Burma - a country torn apart by a civil war - caused 11 deaths. This was reported by two witnesses: a resident and a member of the rebellion, who mentioned a one-year-old girl among the victims.

The attack occurred yesterday around 2pm (9.30am in Italy) in a territory controlled by a rebel faction, the People's Defense Forces (PDF), in the Yesagyo district, south-west of Mandalay. The death toll was 11, including six women and two children - one of whom was a newborn who was "just starting to walk" - said Bo Paw, a member of the PDF. At the moment, AFP writes, it has not been possible to contact the Burmese army for comment.

The 11 people "were all killed instantly, including an 11-year-old student who was riding a bicycle," confirmed another witness, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons. "I saw three houses completely destroyed. They were along the road, right where the bomb fell," he added. "This morning I went to the cemetery: only two bodies had not yet been buried."

According to the NGO Acled, since the beginning of the civil war in Burma - sparked in 2021 by a military coup that overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi - over 100,000 people, belonging to both sides, have been killed. The democratically oriented People's Defense Forces rose up at the time alongside armed movements linked to ethnic minorities, who had long been hostile to the central power. However, after having achieved significant progress against the army, they now find themselves in difficulty around Mandalay, the country's second city.