Myanmar’s army mentioned it carried out a lethal assault on a village gathering organised by its rebel opponents this week and if civilians had been additionally killed it was as a result of they had been being pressured to assist the “terrorists”.

As much as 100 individuals, together with kids, had been killed in Tuesday’s air strike within the Sagaing space in northwest Myanmar, in line with media studies, making it the deadliest in a current string of army air assaults.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative reform that included rule by a civilian authorities led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some opponents of army rule have taken up arms, in locations becoming a member of ethnic minority insurgents, and the army has responded with air strikes and heavy weapons, together with in civilian areas.

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U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres condemned the air assault in Sagaing and referred to as for these accountable to be held accountable, his spokesperson mentioned, including that Guterres “reiterates his name for the army to finish the marketing campaign of violence towards the Myanmar inhabitants all through the nation”.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun advised army broadcast channel Myawaddy late on Tuesday the assault on the ceremony held by the Nationwide Unity Authorities (NUG), a shadow administration, for his or her armed Individuals’s Defence Drive was geared toward restoring peace and stability within the area.

“Throughout that opening ceremony, we performed the assault. PDF members had been killed. They’re those opposing the federal government of the nation, the individuals of the nation,” mentioned Zaw Min Tun.

“In line with our floor info we hit the place of their weapons’ storage and that exploded and other people died as a result of that,” he mentioned.

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Referring to accusations of civilian casualties, he mentioned “some individuals who had been pressured to assist them most likely died as effectively”.

Zaw Min Tun mentioned pictures confirmed a few of these killed had been in uniform and a few in civilian garments, accusing the PDF of falsely claiming civilian deaths when their forces had been killed.

He additionally accused members of the PDF of committing “warfare crimes” and killing “monks, lecturers and harmless residents” within the space who didn’t assist the opposition.

U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Turk condemned the assault in a message earlier than the junta’s remark was extensively reported, saying it “seems schoolchildren performing dances, in addition to different civilians … had been among the many victims”.

Citing residents of the area, BBC Burmese, Radio Free Asia (RFA) Burmese, and the Irrawaddy information portal reported between 80 and 100 individuals, together with civilians, had been killed within the assault by the army.

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In line with a PDF member, about 100 our bodies, together with 16 kids, had been cremated.

“The precise loss of life toll continues to be unclear since … physique components are scattered far and wide,” mentioned the PDF member, who declined to be recognized.

Myanmar’s flippantly armed opposition fighters haven’t any efficient defences towards the army’s air pressure.

In October, a army jet attacked a live performance, killing not less than 50 civilians, singers and members of an ethnic minority rebel pressure in Kachin State within the north.

Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the NUG, mentioned it believed almost 100 individuals had been killed within the Tuesday assault when air pressure jets dropped bombs on villagers and helicopter gunships then adopted up, calling it “one other mindless, barbaric, brutal assault by the army”.

The army denies accusations it has dedicated atrocities towards civilians and says it’s combating “terrorists” decided to destabilise the nation.

The army has dominated Myanmar for a lot of the previous 60 years saying it’s the solely establishment able to holding the various nation collectively.

Suu Kyi, 77, is serving 33 years in jail for numerous offences that she denied and her social gathering has been disbanded.