Rebecca Henschke
BBC EYE Investigations
Bbc
The BBC received several images of damaged buildings in the village of Naung Lin, Shan State, where the Junta of the Myanmar junta would have dropped bombs on Friday evening
The Myanmar military junta continued to bomb parts of the country torn apart by the war after the major earthquake there, which killed more than 1,600 people.
The UN described attacks as “completely scandalous and unacceptable”.
Special rapporteur Tom Andrews told the BBC that it was “nothing less than the incredible” that the soldiers continued to “drop bombs when you try to save people” after the earthquake.
He called the military regime, which took power in a coup d’etat almost four years ago to stop all military operations.
“Whoever has an influence on the army must increase the pressure and indicate very clearly that it is not acceptable,” he said.
“I call the junta to stop, to stop one of her military operations,” he added.
The pro-democracy rebel groups that are fighting to withdraw the military from power reported aerial attacks in the canton of Chang-U in the northwest region of sagaing, the epicenter of the earthquake. There are also reports on air strikes in regions near the Thai border.
The National Government of Unity (NUG), which represents the ousted civil administration, said in a statement that its armed forces would start a two -week break in “offensive military operations, with the exception of defensive actions” in the areas affected by the earthquake on Sunday.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Sagaing was also felt in neighboring countries. It was followed by destruction reports from Mandalay nearby – the second largest city in Myanmar – as well as the capital, not Pyi Taw, which is more than 150 miles (241 km).
The junta says that 1,644 people are known to be dead and that many others would be trapped under rubble.
The earthquake comes after four years of civil war in Myanmar which followed a military coup in 2021. The coup launched huge demonstrations, thousands of people going daily in the streets, demanding the restoration of civil domination.
What initially started as a campaign of civil disobedience quickly became a generalized insurrection involving pro -democracy and ethnic groups – which ultimately sparked a total civil war.
Four years later, the violent fighting continued between the army on the one hand, and the ethnic armies and the armed resistance groups on the other.
The junta, who has undergone continuous and humiliating defeats and lost vast expanses of territory, is relying more and more on air attacks to crush resistance to her rule.
Large parts of the sagaing region, the epicenter of the earthquake, are now under the control of group resistance groups.
Applause while rescuers draw the living woman from the rubble
A BBC investigation revealed that almost four years after taking power in a coup, the army now controls less than a quarter of the country.
The survey revealed that the ethnic armies and a patchwork of resistance groups now control 42% of the country’s land mass, while a large part of the remaining area remains disputed.
It is in aerial combat that the military regime has the upper hand. Resistance groups do not have the ability to retaliate in the air.
The army has a history of realization of blind air bombings that destroyed schools, monasteries, churches and hospitals. In one of the deadliest air strikes, more than 170 people were killed, including many women and children.
The United Nations organization investigating human rights violations in the country warned that the military junta commits war crimes and crimes against humanity against her own people.
The military air war is supported by the continuous support of Russia and China. Despite calls for an arms embargo in response to the coup, China and Russia have sold the sophisticated junta attack planes and provided training on how to use it.
Russia and China have also sent myanmar assistance and rescue teams. But Burmese rights activist based in the United Kingdom, Julie Khine said: “It is difficult to trust sympathy now, when it is also the same countries that provide the military junta with fatal weapons used to kill our innocent civilians.”
Getty Images
Myanmar military leader, Min Aung Hlaing visited a hospital complex where survivors of the earthquake were treated in Naycyidaw on Friday
He is also largely concerned that soldiers use aid as a weapon in civil war.
The Myanmar army has a long -standing practice to refuse aid to areas where resistance groups are active.
Tom Andrews of the United Nations told the BBC that during the help of rescue, the army blocked the aid and arrested the humanitarian workers.
“What we know about past humanitarian disasters, natural disasters is that the junta does not reveal the truth. He is also used to blocking humanitarian aid when he arrives where he is most necessary,” he said.
“They armor this help. They send it to the areas they control and they deny it in the areas they don’t do.
“So you have areas in which the most acute needs exist and you have literally helped try to enter, trucks blocking the way, arrested people and this was the model of their response to natural disasters in the past.
“I’m afraid of expecting this to be the case with this disaster.”
