About Jonathan Head
Jonathan Head is the South East Asia Correspondent for BBC News, the main newsgathering department of the BBC, and its 24-hour television news channels BBC World News and BBC News Channel, as well as the BBC's domestic television and radio channels and the BBC World Service.
A turning point in Myanmar as army suffers big losses
...By Jonathan Head & Lulu LuoBBC News, BangkokIn a matter of days the military government in Myanmar has lost control of much of its border with China...
Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi jail term reduced after some pardons
...By Jonathan Head and Derek Caiin Bangkok and SingaporeFormer Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been pardoned in five of 19 charges brought against her by the military...
Cambodia election: 'This was more of a coronation than an election'
...By Jonathan Head, South East Asia correspondent BangkokUndeterred by the pouring rain, a long convoy of motorbikes carrying cheering, flag-waving supporters of Cambodia s ruling party revved their engines in preparation for their triumphant final rally in downtown Phnom Penh...
Pita Limjaroenrat: Thai election upstart who vows to be different
...By Jonathan HeadSouth East Asia correspondentPita Limjaroenrat is not your typical Thai politician...
Salt Bae parody: Vietnam noodle vendor jailed for five years
...By Jonathan Head and Bui ThuBBC News in BangkokA noodle vendor in Vietnam who parodied one of the country s most powerful ministers has been jailed for five-and-a half years for anti-state propaganda...
Myanmar military airstrike: More than 100 people feared dead
...By Jonathan Head & Nicholas YongIn Bangkok and SingaporeMore than 100 people are feared to have been killed in Tuesday s airstrike by the Myanmar military, one of the deadliest so far in the civil war...
Boy who survived Thai cave rescue dies in UK
...By Jonathan Head and Kelly NgBBC NewsDuangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys who was rescued from a Thai cave in 2018, has died in the UK...
Myanmar coup anniversary: 'Silent strike' marks two years of military rule
...By Jonathan Head at the Thailand-Myanmar border & Oliver Slow in LondonBBC NewsPro-democracy activists in Myanmar are holding a " silent strike" to mark two years since a military coup...
Myanmar military airstrike: More than 100 people feared dead
By Jonathan Head & Nicholas YongIn Bangkok and Singapore
More than 100 people are feared to have been killed in Tuesday's airstrike by the Myanmar military, one of the deadliest So Far in the Civil War .
Survivors told The Bbc they have collected at least 80 bodies, but expect The Toll to rise further.
The United Nations has condemned The Attack , which targeted a village in the north-western Sagaing Region .
The military has increasingly used air strikes against their opponents since seizing power in February 2021.
The spokesman for the Military Junta , General Zaw Min Tun, told state television, " yes, we launched the air strike". He Said they had chosen to attack Pa Zi Gyi because The Village was holding a ceremony to mark the opening of an office for their local volunteer defence force.
These anti-coup militias, known as People's Defence Forces or PDFS, are waging an armed campaign against the military in various parts of Myanmar. Communities in Sagaing have put up some of The Strongest opposition to military rule.
With so many army convoys being ambushed now on The Roads , the junta is using Air Power more widely, targeting symbols of defiance of its rule. This includes schools and health clinics; sometimes entire villages are destroyed in a Scorched Earth campaign which it hopes will eventually exhaust the tenacious resistance it is facing in much of the country.
One villager in Pa Zi Gyi told The Bbc that a military jet had flown over at about 07:00 local time (01:30 BST) on Tuesday and dropped a bomb directly onto the hall where community leaders were meeting, followed by a helicopter gunship which attacked The Village for 20 Minutes . Later, witnesses said, the aircraft returned and opened fire on those trying to collect The Dead .
The Village had been packed with people from nearby communities who were attending The Ceremony .
After the airstrike, residents uploaded video showing scenes of appalling carnage, with dismembered bodies lying on the ground and several buildings On Fire . " Please call out if you are Still Alive , We Are coming to help you, " they can he heard shouting as they walked through Pa Zi Gyi looking for victims of The Attack .
They said that they tried to count the bodies, but that This Was difficult because so many were In Pieces , scattered among shredded clothing and burned motorbikes.
" Despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, there has been blatant disregard for the related rules of International Law , " the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , Volker Turk , said.
" There are reasonable grounds To Believe that the military and its affiliated militias are responsible for an extremely broad range of Human Rights violations and abuses since 1 February 2021, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity and War Crimes . "
Thousands have been killed in the Civil War , with an additional 1. 4 million displaced. Nearly a third of the country's population is also in need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations .
There were between February 2021 and January 2023, according to a BBC analysis of data from the conflict-monitoring group Acled (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project). The junta has been increasingly relying on its Russian and Chinese aircraft to bomb opposition-controlled villages, inflicting much higher casualties among non-combatants.
The Exiled National Unity Government, which was formed after The Coup , says that these attacks killed 155 civilians between October 2021 and September 2022.
In October, at least 50 people were killed after Air Force jets dropped three bombs on a concert organised by an ethnic insurgent group in Kachin state. In the previous month, an airstrike on a school in The Village of Let Yet Kone in central Myanmar killed at least five children and injured several others.
If the Death Toll at Pa Zi Gyi is confirmed, it will be one of the deadliest single incidents So Far in the Civil War .
Last month, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, The Head of the military government, said by armed resistance groups.
Read more of our coverage on the Civil War in MyanmarRelated TopicsSource of news: bbc.com