Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Kill at Least 8 Civilians in Upper Sagaing Region

A house damaged by junta’s airstrikes in Indaw and Katha townships.

At least eight civilians were killed and 10 others injured in a series of Myanmar military airstrikes across upper Sagaing Region between Sept. 21 and 27, according to local sources and human rights monitors.

The air raids targeted Indaw, Katha, Tigyaing, and Kawlin townships—areas in northern Sagaing near the Kachin State border—and extended close to Tagaung, near the border with Mandalay Region.

The strikes hit locations along the Mandalay-Myitkyina Road, a crucial transportation artery linking central Myanmar to the north.

The deadliest attack occurred on Sept. 23, when a junta Y-12 transport aircraft dropped 18 bombs along a section of the highway in Indaw Township.

The strike set a fuel tanker and a cargo truck ablaze, killing drivers and bus conductors.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) confirmed in a Sept. 28 statement that five civilians died in the Indaw attack.

That same day, military aircraft twice bombed a Buddhist monastery in Nyaungchetauk Village, located in Katha Township’s Moetaw Subtownship, killing a nun.

On Sept. 24, two junta airstrikes involving bombs and rockets struck Kukkokone Village in eastern Kawlin Township, killing two civilians, injuring eight others, and damaging five homes, according to Kawlin District People’s Defense Force (PDF) Battalion 1.

Additional nighttime bombing runs and 120mm artillery fire hit Kachinkone and Shaukpinwaing villages in eastern Kawlin on Sept. 27.

Separately, a woman was killed and four people were injured by junta artillery shelling in Tigyaing Township's Nyaungpinthar Village; these casualties were excluded from the airstrike toll.

Local residents and rescue groups noted there were no active clashes in Indaw—an area jointly controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and PDF forces—when the Sept. 23 strike occurred.

Residents believe the junta is using air power to clear the Tigyaing-Indaw road section, disrupt opposition supply lines, and prepare for ground offensives to retake key transport corridors.

According to AAPP, civilian fatalities from airstrikes in Sagaing Region continue to surge. By Sept. 17, the junta had killed 164 people in the region this year, 133 of them in air attacks.

Nationwide, at least 62 civilians were killed by regime forces in the first half of September alone.