An armed resistance movement against Myanmar’s military-run government criticised the junta on March 30 for conducting airstrikes on villages even as the country reels from an earthquake that has killed around 1,700 people.
The Karen National Union, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armies, said in a statement that the junta “continues to carry out airstrikes targeting civilian areas, even as the population suffers tremendously from the earthquake”.
The group said that under normal circumstances, the military would be prioritising relief efforts, but instead is focused on “deploying forces to attack its people”.
A spokesman for the junta did not reply to queries from Reuters about the criticism.
Myanmar has been locked in civil war with multiple armed opposition groups since a 2021 coup, when the military seized power from the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Shortly after March 28’s devastating earthquake, military jets launched airstrikes and drone attacks in Karen state, near the KNU headquarters, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation.
The epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude quake was in an area held by junta forces, but the devastation is widespread and also affected some territory held by armed resistance movements.
