SAC Gyrocopter Attacks Kill Infant in Salingyi and 14-Year-Old Girl in Yinmabin During Thingyan

On April 13, the Myanmar military's Northwestern Regional Military Command deployed gyrocopter aircraft to attack villages in Sagaing Region during the Thingyan Water Festival. In Weikwe village, Salingyi Township, a gyrocopter opened fire on civilians, killing one infant struck by gunfire. In Leingnaut village in southern Yinmabin Township, a separate gyrocopter attack killed a 14-year-old girl. The use of gyrocopter (autogyro) aircraft for low-altitude attacks on villages has become a documented SAC tactic in Sagaing Region, where the relatively slow, low-flying aircraft allows for targeting of individuals in civilian settings with gunfire. The attacks on the eve and beginning of Thingyan — Myanmar's most sacred national holiday — mark a deliberate escalation in timing and add to the pattern of SAC strikes on civilians during Buddhist religious observances. The two deaths on April 13 in Sagaing bring to dozens the number of civilians killed by junta forces in the region during just the Thingyan period (April 13–16).