JakartaPost-May 10
Myanmar’s military used a “vacuum bomb” in an air strike on an opposition village that killed dozens of people in a likely war crime last month, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. Fighting has ravaged large tracts of Myanmar since a military coup in 2021 that sparked renewed clashes with ethnic rebel groups, as well as the formation of dozens of “People’s Defence Forces” now battling the junta. The military bombed a gathering in an opposition stronghold last month that media and locals said killed about 170 people, sparking renewed global condemnation. The military had used a thermobaric bomb in the attack on Pazi Gyi village in Sagaing region, HRW said. Their assessment was based on analysis of 59 photos of the victims’ bodies and a video of the site following the strike. Thermobaric bombs, also known “vacuum bombs” are more powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions and use two separate charges. The first scatters a fuel mixture as a cloud around the target and the second detonates the cloud, sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere and forming a huge fireball. Thermobaric weapons are not specifically banned under international conventions, but their use against civilian populations could result in war crimes convictions. Read more at:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/05/10/myanmar-military-used-vacuum-bomb-in-village-air-strike-hrw.html.
