Page 6 - aruba-today-20240108

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 8 January 2024
Air attack in northwestern Myanmar kills 17, including children, but

military denies responsibility

By GRANT PECK to 2 million people that has non-Burman and non-Bud-
Associated Press triggered a humanitarian dhist populations, found
BANGKOK (AP) — Airstrikes crisis. mostly in the border areas
by Myanmar’s military on Sagaing region, near the where much of the current
a village under the con- border with India, has been fighting takes place.
trol of the pro-democracy a stronghold of armed re- About 10 houses near the
resistance in the country’s sistance to the army. A dis- school were destroyed by
northwest have killed at trict capital and two small bombs, said the resident
least 17 civilians, including towns, including Khampat, who spoke on the condi-
nine children, local resi- have been seized in the tion of anonymity because
dents and a human rights past few months by a coali- he was afraid of being ar-
group said Sunday. tion of resistance forces and rested by the military.
The morning aerial at- the Kachin Independence He provided a possible ex-
tacks on Kanan village in Army, one of the stronger planation for the attack,
Sagaing region’s Khampat ethnic rebel groups. noting that a ceremony
town, just south of the In- A local resident who helped had been scheduled for
dian border, also wounded The bodies of the victims killed by airstrikes are shrouded carry out rescue work told Sunday to mark the com-
about 20 people, they said. in blankets at a building in Kanan village, Khampat town in The Associated Press on pletion of combat training
Myanmar is wracked by Sagaing region on Sunday, Jan.7, 2024. Sunday that a jet fighter for new members of the re-
violence that began after Associated Press dropped three bombs on sistance forces at another
the army ousted the elect- dependent online news fighting for greater auton- the village of Kanan, on the school in the village, and
ed government of Aung service sympathetic to the omy for decades. The two outskirts of Khampat, about that might have been the
San Suu Kyi in February anti-military resistance. groups sometimes carry out 280 kilometers (170 miles) intended target of the at-
2021. After peaceful dem- The report by the state-run joint operations against the northwest of Mandalay, tack. He added that the
onstrations were put down MRTV television in its Sun- army. the country’s second-big- bombing might have been
with lethal force, many op- day night news broadcast In response to accusations gest city, killing 17 civilians the consequence of a tip-
ponents of military rule took cited an unnamed official of abuses, the military gov- who were in buildings near off by a military informer.
up arms, and large parts of from the area as saying ernment often accuses pro- the village school. Another resident, who also
the country are now em- there had been no plane democracy forces in the Most of the residents in spoke on the condition of
broiled in conflict. flying in the area on Sun- area of carrying out violent Khampat town are from anonymity due to security
The country’s indepen- day morning. campaigns of terror. But an- the Chin ethnic minority, concerns, said nine of the
dent online media and the The military government alysts for the United Nations the vast majority of whom dead were children and 20
BBC’s Myanmar-language in the past two years and non-governmental or- are Christians, generally other people were injured.
service reported the air at- has stepped up airstrikes ganizations have gathered Baptist. Myanmar is largely He also provided AP with
tack Sunday, but the mili- against two enemies: the credible evidence of large- Buddhist, led by the Bur- photos of the aftermath of
tary government denied armed pro-democracy scale human rights abuses man majority. The ruling the attack, including dead
responsibility, claiming that Peoples Defense Force, by the army, including the military identifies with a and wounded people and
it was false news spread and ethnic minority guer- burning of entire villages nationalistic strain of Bud- damaged buildings.q
by Khit Thit Media, an in- rilla groups that have been and displacement of close dhism that shows hostility to

Lebanon airport screens display anti-Hezbollah message after being

hacked

Associated Press anon, and a little-known In a speech on Saturday,
BEIRUT (AP) — The informa- group that calls itself The Hezbollah leader Sayyed
tion display screens at Bei- One Who Spoke. In a vid- Hassan Nasrallah in a
rut’s international airport eo statement, the Chris- speech vowed that the
were hacked by domestic tian group denied its in- group would retaliate. He
anti-Hezbollah groups Sun- volvement, while the other dismissed criticisms that the
day, as clashes between group shared photos of the group is looking for a full-
the Lebanese militant screens on its social media scale war with Israel, but
group and the Israeli mili- channels. said if Israel launches one,
tary continue to intensify “Hassan Nasrallah, you will Hezbollah is ready for a war
along the border. no longer have supporters “without limits.”
Departure and arrival infor- if you curse Lebanon with a Hezbollah announced an
mation was replaced by war for which you will bear “initial response” to Arouri’s
a message accusing the responsibility and conse- killing on Saturday, launch-
Hezbollah group of putting quences,” the message Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the ing a volley of 62 rockets
Lebanon at risk of an all-out read, echoing similar sen- Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, toward an Israeli air surveil-
war with Israel. timents to critics over the 2020. Associated Press lance base on Mount Mer-
The screens displayed a years who have accused on.
message with logos from Hezbollah of smuggling positions near the country’s The near-daily clashes have The Lebanese government
a hardline Christian group weapons and munitions northern border with Leba- intensified sharply over the and international commu-
dubbed Soldiers of God, through the tiny Mediterra- non since Oct. 8, the day past week, after an appar- nity have been scrambling
which has garnered atten- nean country’s only civilian after the Hamas-Israel war ent Israeli strike in a south- to prevent a war in Leba-
tion over the past year for airport. in Gaza began. Israel has ern Beirut suburb killed top non, which they fear would
its campaigns against the Hezbollah has been striking been striking Hezbollah po- Hamas official and com- spark a regional spillover.q
LGBTQ+ community in Leb- Israeli military bases and sitions in return. mander Saleh Arouri.