As many as 100 villagers have been killed and more than 50 injured when junta aircraft bombed a crowd of hundreds attending an office opening ceremony in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township, locals said.

The air strike is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Myanmar's military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup d'etat.

Most of the injured and dead were women and children, witnesses told RFA. They said it was hard to tell how many people had died because the bodies were so badly mangled by the bombs and machine gun fire, but by Monday afternoon, the bodies of at least 53 people had been collected.

“I saw the bodies of four to six children who had been blown about 100 feet [30 meters from the building],” said a local who didn’t want to be identified.

“I saw bodies ripped open and burnt.”

Sources said that at least 20 children were among those killed in the air strike on Pa Zi Gyi village, although RFA was unable to confirm the claim.

Another resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said there were "too many finger-size bits of body parts all over the streets," adding that one could "barely walk without stepping on them."

"Some bodies were headless, while some heads were without bodies. There is no way to identify who the bodies belong to," the resident said. "The junta aircraft hovered around the village and shot at everyone from all angles, aiming at locations where civilians might be hiding."

Nway Oo, a relief worker, said the injured are being transported to clinics in nearby villages operated by the anti-junta People's Defense Force and are receiving medical treatment.

“Most of them are people with their hands or legs blown off," he said. "As we are transporting them in four-wheel drive vehicles, we can only bring 4-7 people at a time. We have to be vigilant and listen for the sound of junta aircraft before we enter and exit the village."

Nway Oo said that a military junta troop is stationed in nearby in Ma Lel village, hampering efforts to transport the injured.

An eyewitness to the attack told RFA that the military had "received specific information about the opening of the public administration office" ahead of time and "deliberately carried out an air raid on the civilian crowd." [RFA/NS]