Internally displaced people (IDPs) said they were forced to flee for their lives without being able to bury those killed in a junta airstrike in Bhamo Town, Bhamo Township, Kachin State.
The IDPs were sheltering in Kannar Yeik Thar Monastery in Bhamo Town’s Nyaungpiyat Ward. But despite the junta still holding Bhamo Town and Nyaungpiyat Ward, a junta aircraft carried out two bombing runs on the monastery at about 5:00 am on 8 May that killed 15 IDPs and injured a further 15, according to other IDPs.
An IDP who survived the airstrike said: “We had to leave the dead behind. The injured were carried on people’s backs as we fled. No one dared to look back, we just ran for our lives. I piggybacked an elderly woman as we fled, she was nearly 100 years old.”
The airstrike instantly killed two elderly women and a child sheltering in the monastery building and a further 12 people sheltering outside, according to witnesses.
Another IDP said: “Two bombs dropped, and everything turned to chaos. People were screaming and crying in fear—it’s hard to even put that moment into words.”
Following the bombing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied resistance forces helped evacuate the injured and around 370 other IDPs to a safer location. A KIA soldier echoed the IDPs’ claims and confirmed that it had been impossible to properly bury the bodies of the dead.
He said to KNG: “During the attack, there was a real risk of more enemy strikes, and we had to prioritise getting the IDPs to safety. So, we had no choice but to leave the bodies behind. It was heartbreaking not being able to do anything for the deceased.”
Pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram have been aggressively promoting the false narrative that anti-junta forces were stationed at the bombed monastery.
Bhamo Town, the administrative centre of both Bhamo Township and the larger Bhamo District lies on the Ayeyarwady River about 114 miles (about 183 km) south of the state capital Myitkyina City.
It is both strategically and economically important and has a large river port that is an important transport hub and is used by the junta to bring weapons and supplies into the area from Mandalay City, which lies about 330 miles (about 530 km) downstream.
Now, the KIA controls all of Bhamo Township except for Bhamo Town including all the key routes into Bhamo Town and the areas just outside the town. It has been fighting to take the town from the junta for the last five months.
But the junta’s Military Operations Command 21 (MOC 21) based in Bhamo has managed to resist all KIA attacks so far.
The junta is using Y8 aircraft to airlift supplies to MOC 21 in Bhamo Town every day to avoid the KIA blockade of roads into the town.
