The United Nations and Germany on Tuesday condemned a new airstrike allegedly launched by Myanmar’s military regime against a village in a rebel-held zone, killing dozens, including women and children.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the attack by the armed forces of Myanmar (…) and calls those responsible to account,” underlined a press release issued by his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Mr Guterres “reiterates his appeal to the Myanmar military to end the campaign of violence against the population” of the country, his spokesman added.

Earlier yesterday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was “disgusted” by the attack attributed to the military junta,

“It appears that children participating in dances, as well as other civilians, who were attending the opening ceremony of a center in Pazi Gi village, Kanbalu district, are among the victims,” ​​Mr. Turk said in a press release issued by his services. .

The text describes that “an attack helicopter then opened fire on those who were running out of the hall to save themselves”, while there is talk of information in which about a hundred villagers were killed in the strikes yesterday morning in the Shangaig area, a stronghold of armed opposition organizations. in the central part of the country.

Eyewitnesses contacted by AFP also spoke of around a hundred dead. Videos uploaded to social networking sites, the authenticity of which cannot be verified at this time, show bodies strewn in the rubble of houses.

The BBC Burma Service, the Irrawaddy News website and Radio Free Asia yesterday reported airstrikes in the village of Pazi Gyi in Kanbalu District, north of Mandalay.

According to their reports, at least fifty people were killed, but the actual toll may reach a hundred dead, according to a rebel rescuer, who confirmed that women and children were among the victims.

Mr. Turk accused the erstwhile Burmese military of once again flouting “its clear legal obligations (…) to protect civilians during hostilities,” of flagrantly violating “the rules of international law.”

Via Twitter, Germany’s foreign ministry also condemned last Tuesday night “the Myanmar military airstrike that killed dozens of civilians, including children.”

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We demand that the regime stop any act of violence against the population immediately,” added the post of German diplomacy.

The so-called Government of National Unity, a body founded by former MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, many of whom are in exile, condemned the “new paradigm” of “extreme violence used indiscriminately against innocent civilians”.

A spokesman for the military junta was not available when contacted by AFP for comment.

In Sagaing district, near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, there is strong resistance to the military junta: heavy fighting has been going on there for months.

Mr Turk recalled yesterday that “there are reasons to believe that the army and paramilitary groups linked to it are responsible for a wide range of human rights violations and abuses”, which “may have constituted war crimes”, since February 1, 2021, when the military junta was imposed.

Violent clashes broke out in Myanmar between the military regime forces and armed opposition and various ethnic groups after the coup.

Myanmar’s military relies on its absolute air superiority — it has Russian- and Chinese-made jets and helicopters — to offset its difficulties on the ground as it faces rebel organizations that control several sectors of the country.

The United Nations points out that it counted more than 300 airstrikes in 2022, and that many of them resulted in the killing of civilians.