Junta airstrike killed more than twice as many children as PDF members

19 April 2023
Junta airstrike killed more than twice as many children as PDF members
Photo: Kyunhla Activists Group

Only 18 of the 168 people massacred in the Myanmar junta airstrike on Pazigyi Village on 11 April were members of people’s defence forces (PDFs) or worked for an anti-junta administration.

The figures come from a 16 April National Unity Government (NUG) shadow government report on the airstrike on Pazigyi Village in Sagaing Region’s Kantbalu Township taht took place at 8:00 a.m. on 11 April as villagers were preparing to celebrate the opening of an NUG administration office in the area.

According to the NUG report 168 people were killed in the attack. 40 of the dead, or 23.8 per cent were children. Six were under five years old, 19 were between the ages of five and 14 years and five were aged between 14 and 18 years. The ages of the other 10 children have not yet been determined.

128 of the dead, or about 76 per cent, were adults. Of those only 19, or just over 10 per cent were PDF members or worked for the NUG administration. The NUG estimates that the rest of the dead were civilians.

The junta has claimed responsibility for the airstrikes claiming that it was targetting PDF members and that there had been many PDF members attending the celebrations.

Since the NUG report was issued unofficial estimates of the number killed in the Pazigyi Village massacre have risen to 170 or 171 people.