The junta launched airstrikes on the villages of Sintoehla and Thaungpu on opposite sides of the Sittaung River in Kyaukkyi Township, Bago Region on 25 March 2025.
There were airstrikes on the villages both in the morning and the afternoon of 25 March. They came after a Karen National Union (KNU)-led coalition started attacking a junta camp in Sintoehla Village at 7:00 pm the previous evening, 24 March.
On the morning of 25 March a jet fighter and a Y-12 utility aircraft bombed Sintoehla Village on the west side of the Sittaung River.
In the afternoon a junta helicopter came and strafed Sintoehla Village and Thaungpu Village, on the east side of the Sittaung River with machine gun fire.
A Kyaukkyi Township resident said to KIC: “The fighting broke out last night. This morning, the jet fighter and the Y12 bombed Sintoehla Village on the west side of the Sittaung River. In the afternoon, a helicopter showed up and opened fire on the villages. Over in Thaungpu Village, on the east bank, even the coconut trees got torn apart by bullets.”
He added that a wedding had been taking place in Thaungpu Village when the helicopter attacked but that he did not yet know whether there had been any casualties.
After the airstrikes, junta soldiers entered both villages and looted houses taking anything of value they could find.
Many villagers fled from Sintoehla and Thaungpu villages when the airstrikes hit and the residents still left in the villages following the airstrikes then fled when the soldiers approached the villages, meaning the villages were empty when the soldiers arrived and started looting. Many of the displaced residents sought refuge in Kyauktaga Town, in neighbouring Kyauktaga Township.
The previously quoted Kyaukkyi Township resident said: “The junta troops came in and forced the villagers out, making the people of Sintoehla and nearby villages flee to Kyauktaga Town for safety. Then, the soldiers looted the houses taking everything of value. I heard there was a wedding taking place in Thaungpu Village when the airstrikes hit today, but I can’t say if there were any casualties.”
Casualty numbers and damage from the airstrikes and when the soldiers entered Sintoehla and Thaungpu villages are currently unknown.
