BANGKOK: The death toll from an air strike on a central Myanmar village rose to an estimated 171 victims on Friday, according to a team member involved in cremating bodies and media reports.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a February 2021 coup, with an estimated 3,200 civilians killed as part of the junta’s crackdown on dissent.

There was no official death toll from Tuesday morning’s strike on Pazi Gyi village in the central Sagaing region, although military authorities confirmed they had carried out an operation in the area.

A villager involved in cremating the bodies, who asked not to be identified to protect his safety, said on Friday his team had revised its death count up to 171 from 130 a day earlier. He told AFP 109 men, 24 women and 38 children were killed. Another 53 wounded were receiving medical care, he said.

Myanmar’s National Unity Government, a shadow body dominated by former lawmakers from Suu Kyi’s party, tweeted a chart on Friday with a total of 168 fatalities.

Pazi Gyi was deserted on Friday, with villagers too scared to return.

The attack drew international outrage with the UK calling the UN Security Council to meet to discuss the incident. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations strongly condemned the air strikes.

The junta confirmed on Wednesday it had launched “limited” air strikes in the area and blamed some of the deaths on mines planted by anti-junta fighters.

It also said on Friday rebels had dropped four bombs from a drone that killed eight people, including five children in the Sagaing region.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2023