At least 53 people were killed today in central Myanmar in an airstrike attributed to the military on a rally attended by opponents of the junta, according to media and members of a local resistance movement.

Fifty to 100 people, including civilians, were killed in the attack, BBC Burmese, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Irrawaddy news portal reported, citing residents of Shanghaiing district.

According to a rescuer cited by AFP, who also noted that the death toll could rise to 100 and that there are women and children among the victims, the injured from the air attack attributed to the military they amount to about 20.

Reuters has so far been unable to verify the information, and a spokesman for the military junta that rules the country did not return a phone call for comment.

Myanmar is in turmoil after the 2021 coup. Ethnic minority armies and resistance fighters challenging the military’s rule have launched attacks, and the military has responded with airstrikes and heavy weapons fire, including on civilian areas.

A member of the People’s Defense Force (PDF), an anti-junta militia, told Reuters that fighter jets opened fire on a ceremony to mark the inauguration of its local office.

“So far the exact number of casualties remains unknown. We have not yet been able to retrieve all the bodies.”noted a PDF member, who asked not to be named.

At least 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict since the coup, according to the UN.

Today’s incident may be one of the deadliest in a series of airstrikes that have followed a fighter jet attack on a concert in October that killed at least 50 civilians, local singers and members of an ethnic minority armed group in Katsina state.

Myanmar’s pro-democracy government in exile, the Government of National Unity, condemned the attack, calling it “another example of (the military’s) indiscriminate use of extreme violence against civilians”.

Last month at least 8 civilians including children were killed in an airstrike on a village in northwestern Myanmar, according to a human rights group, ethnic minority rebels and media.

The military denies international accusations that it has committed atrocities against civilians and says it is fighting “terrorists” who are bent on destabilizing the country.

Western countries have imposed sanctions on the junta and its wide business network in an attempt to cut its revenue and access to weapons from key suppliers such as Russia.