Burma’s military junta has denied the deaths of dozens of civilians in a series of air strikes carried out on Sunday against the town of Hpakant in northern Kachin State.
In a statement, the army has described reports of an alleged attack on a music festival with civilian casualties as «fake news» and insisted that a bombing was carried out against a base operated by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
The festival in question was reportedly held in an area controlled by the KIA’s 9th Brigade near Ginsi to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political arm of the armed group.
The event reportedly attracted influential members of the community, at least four of whom were killed by a bomb detonation near the main stage, according to sources quoted by Kachin media, which put the death toll at 60.
Likewise, the rebels have denounced that fifty wounded were unable to be transferred to hospitals in the area even though some of them were in critical condition, according to information from the newspaper ‘Irrawaddy’. For this reason, they estimate that the death toll could be higher.
However, the Burmese forces have assured in a statement that the attack resulted in the death of «terrorists» of the KIA and «anti-junta» members of the People’s Defense Forces (FDP). They also assured that the bombings were part of «necessary operations» in response to attacks by the 9th KIA brigade against border and police posts.
For its part, the United Nations has expressed its «deep» concern about these attacks and has estimated that more than a hundred people have been affected by the bombings of the Burmese military junta.
