The Myanmar military airstrike on Tuesday, which was one of the deadliest so far in the civil war, is thought to have killed more than 100 people.
The BBC was told by survivors that they have found at least 80 dead, but they expect the number to go up even more.
The UN has spoken out against the attack, which was aimed at a village in the Sagaing area in the northwestern part of the country.
Since the military took power in February 2021, they have used air strikes against their enemies more and more.
General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the military junta, said on state news, “Yes, we started the air strike.” He said that they chose to attack Pa Zi Gyi because the village was having a ceremony to celebrate the opening of an office for their local voluntary defence force.
People’s Defense Forces, or PDFS, are a group of anti-coup rebels that are fighting the military with guns in different parts of Myanmar. Some of the most strong resistance to military rule has come from the people of Sagaing.
Since so many army convoys are now being attacked on the roads, the junta is using air power more often to go after icons of opposition to its rule. This includes schools and health clinics. Sometimes, whole villages are destroyed as part of a campaign called “scorched earth,” which the government hopes will finally wear down the strong opposition it faces in most of the country.
One farmer in Pa Zi Gyi told the BBC that a military jet flew over on Tuesday around 7 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. BST) and dropped a bomb right on the hall where community leaders were meeting. This was followed by a 20-minute attack by a helicopter gunship. Later, witnesses said, the plane came back and fired on those who were trying to get the bodies.
People from nearby towns came to the event, so the village was full of people.