SW News:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced the use of a deadly thermobaric bomb by the Myanmar military in Sagaing region on April 11 in which 160 people were killed and an entire settlement was incinerated. HRW criticized the deadly attack on May 10 after scrutinizing photos and videos of the bomb attack.

The rights outfit said that the attack could be classified as a war crime. During the attack on Pa Zi Gyi village, the military deployed the thermobaric bomb deliberately to create widespread destruction.
In a statement, HRW’s regional director for Asia Elaine Pearson said the use of the weapon designed to cause the maximum number of deaths in an area crowded with civilians shows a flagrant disregard for human life.
A thermobaric bomb is an explosive device that disperses like water vapor and when it deflagrates, it propels the combustion with the help of atmospheric oxygen. HRW was able to ascertain that the incendiary device used in the April 11 attack was indeed of this nature after examining the bodies of the victims. Many bodies were in pieces and beyond recognition.  Among them were the mortal remains of 40 children.

The spokesperson for the military Zaw Min Tun assumed responsibility for the attack in Sagaing which is home to the Catholic Bayingi community. He said the weapon was used to target the troops of the People’s Defense Force, a militia unit that cropped up in April 2021 after the coup and joined ranks with similar armed ethnic outfits to fight the military.

After the military came to power in the Buddhist majority on Feb. 1, 2021, it has stepped up airstrikes often targeting innocent civilians under the pretext of flushing out insurgents. Recently four bombs were dropped on a school in the village of Htan Taw. The blast damaged the library and the main entrance. Luckily the 300 students were unharmed as they had already left the premises well before the attack.