Civilians, including a family of seven, were killed in a junta airstrike on Dawthponeyan Sub-township in Bhamo District, Kachin State, at about 1:30am on 19 February 2025.

The airstrike targeted the villages of Wa Ngang, Nang I and Aung Myin Thar in Dawthponeyan Sub-township, even though there was no fighting in the area at the time.

Among the dead were U Maung Oo and all of his six other family members from Wa Ngang Village, according to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu who said that there were other civilian casualties with the exact number still unknown.

He said to MNJ: “We have received reports that seven members of U Maung Oo’s family [including U Maung Oo] were killed in Wa Ngang Village. There are also reports of civilian casualties in other villages, but the exact details are unclear. Additionally, some houses and a monastery in Aung Myin Thar Village have been damaged, but we cannot confirm the full extent of the situation,” Colonel Naw Bu said.

Photos circulating on social media showed that three children were among those killed in the junta airstrike.

Though there was no fighting in the area of the airstrikes though there is ongoing fierce fighting about 25 km to the south, at Bhamo Town, also  in Bhamo District.

On 11 January 2025, 10 civilians were also killed in a junta airstrike on the Tsan Lun gold mining site in Danai Township, about 350 km to the north in the Hukawng Valley region of Kachin State.