The Burmese military on Wednesday admitted responsibility for Tuesday’s bombings against people attending a ceremony of opposition to the military regime, which left more than 100 dead, including dozens of children.
Myanmar (former Burma) military regime spokesman Zaw Min Tun told government-affiliated television channel Myawaddy on Wednesday that the military led the attack on the People’s Defense Forces (FDP), an opposition movement made up mainly of youth and formed after the military coup of February 1, 2021.
‘Probably also civilians who had to support them died’declared the general, who, in keeping with military rhetoric, described the FDP as “terrorists”.
The Burmese air force on Tuesday bombed an inauguration ceremony of an administration office linked to the Government of National Unity (GUN) — the political arm of the FDP that declares itself the country’s legitimate authority following the military coup — in the city of Pazigyi , in the northwest of Sagaing, one of the main rebel strongholds.
A spokesman for the GUN confirmed to EFE on Tuesday that at least 50 people were killed, while several local media reported that more than 100 people may have been killed in the bombing.
According to news agency EFE, an estimated 150 people attended the event, including dozens of women and children, during which meals were served to city residents.
“We carried out the attack during the inauguration ceremony. The members of the FDP were killed. They are the ones who oppose the government of this country”stated Zaw Min Tun.
The GUN spokesman stated that the site was bombed again as volunteers searched the rubble for survivors and removed lifeless bodies, many of them mutilated.
The international community, including the United States, the European Union (EU) and the UN, condemned the attack on Sagaing, one of the worst massacres since the military coup, which ended a decade of democratic transition and left the country in a spiral of violence.
The UN’s rapporteur for Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, denounced in March that more than 3,000 civilians were killed, 1.3 million people had to flee their homes and 16,000 became political prisoners since the military coup, including the deposed leader in February 2021, Nobel Prize for Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Source: DN
