Eighteen people were killed in an airstrike on a town in the central part of the country, according to a local official, a rescue worker and two residents.
Two bombs were dropped on Tabayin township in Sagaing region on Friday evening, with one hitting a busy teashop, according to a local administration official.
He said that 18 people were killed and 20 were wounded.
“Deaths were high at the teashop as it was crowded time,” he said.
A rescue worker who arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the strike said seven people were killed on the spot and 11 others died later at hospital.
The teashop and around a dozen houses nearby were “totally destroyed”, he said.
A survivor said he was watching a televised boxing match in the teashop when the bomb hit.
“As soon as I heard aircraft fly over, I got my body to the ground,” he said, adding that the sound from the blast was deafening.
“I saw a big fire over my head ... I was lucky, I returned home after that.”
Funerals for those killed were held on Saturday, with some victims’ faces covered by towels as they had been rendered unrecognisable, a local resident said.
“I feel very sad because I knew some of them very well,” she said. — AFP
