An airstrike by Myanmar's military on the town of Mogok, the centre of the Southeast Asian country's lucrative gem-mining industry, has killed at least 21 people including a pregnant woman, an armed opposition group, local residents and Myanmar's online media said on Saturday (August 16, 2025).
The incident was the latest in a series of frequent and deadly military airstrikes, often causing civilian casualties, that have intensified in a bid to reclaim territory from resistance groups amid the ongoing civil war that erupted after the Army seized power in February 2021.
The attack occurred on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in Shwegu ward in Mogok township, about 115 kilometres northeast of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, said Lway Yay Oo, a spokesperson for the the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
The TNLA is one of the powerful ethnic militias fighting against the Army near the Chinese border.
“About 21 civilians were killed. Seven others were injured. Homes and Buddhist monastery buildings were also damaged,” Lway Yay Oo said.
