In a move that underscores the deepening crisis in Myanmar, the United Kingdom has called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council following a brutal airstrike on a village in rebel-held territory. Sources confirm that the junta's jets bombed a civilian area in Sagaing Region on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people, including women and children. The attack, one of the deadliest in recent months, has reignited international outrage over the military's campaign against opposition forces.
Diplomatic cables obtained by this desk reveal that the UK mission to the UN filed the request late Wednesday, citing 'grave breaches of international humanitarian law.' The bombing, which levelled dozens of homes and a school, is the latest in a series of junta offensives that have displaced over 1.5 million people since the 2021 coup. 'This is not collateral damage. This is a war crime,' said a senior Foreign Office official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The UN Security Council has been paralyzed on Myanmar, with Russia and China shielding the junta from sanctions. But the UK's emergency motion aims to force a vote on a resolution condemning the attack and demanding humanitarian access. 'We cannot look away while the junta drops bombs on children,' the British ambassador to the UN told reporters. 'The council has a responsibility to act.'
Myanmar's military government dismissed the allegations as 'propaganda' from 'terrorist insurgents.' State media reported that the airstrike targeted a 'training camp' of the People's Defence Force, an umbrella group of anti-junta militias. However, survivors' accounts and satellite imagery reviewed by this publication paint a different picture. The village, home to some 200 families, had no military infrastructure. The only 'target' was a cluster of bamboo huts.
The bombing comes amid a widening conflict that has pitted the junta against a patchwork of ethnic armies and pro-democracy fighters. The UK's move is unlikely to yield immediate results. Russia has already signalled it will veto any resolution that hints at intervention. But diplomats say the session will serve to isolate the junta and build a case for war crimes prosecutions at the International Criminal Court.
For those on the ground, the diplomacy is cold comfort. 'My daughters were playing outside,' a weeping father told a local aid worker. 'I buried them with my own hands.' The UN estimates that over 2,000 civilians have been killed in air raids since the coup. This latest atrocity may finally force the international community to confront the scale of the brutality unfolding in Myanmar's jungles and villages.
