The Myanmar army (Tatmadaw) military has launched two unprovoked attacks, using sophisticated military hardware, against its own citizens in majority Christian states.
The first assault, by three fighter jets on a music festival in Kachin state, killed over 80 people and injured 200. The concert was held by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), a prominent ethnic resistance group. Among those killed were popular musicians, artists, and church elders. The Kachin Baptist Convention said that many of the victims were Christians.
The Tadmadaw’s information office defended the attack as a ‘necessary operation’ that was launched in response to ‘terrorist’ acts by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the KIO’s armed wing, which it denied. It then cut off phone and internet connections and restricted site access for humanitarian groups.
