Myanmar airstrike on Sagaing tea shop kills civilians as election period nears
2025-12-05 — An airstrike by Myanmar's military on a tea shop in Sagaing region killed at least 18 civilians and wounded 20 others, according to a resident cited by the Associated Press and independent local media.
The attack hit Mayakan village in Tabayin township shortly after 8 p.m. on 2025-12-05, according to AP's reporting. People were gathered in the tea shop to watch the Myanmar versus Philippines football match on television when the bombs fell. The witness quoted by AP said a five-year-old child and two schoolteachers were among the dead.
The episode lands in the middle of a broader campaign of air attacks that have become a defining feature of Myanmar's conflict. Since the military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, the country has been in turmoil. Peaceful demonstrations were crushed with lethal force, armed resistance spread, and large parts of the country moved into open conflict.
AP reports that the latest strike came as the military government steps up aerial attacks on the armed pro-democracy People's Defense Force and ethnic militias in an effort to reclaim territory ahead of elections scheduled for later in the month. The resistance forces, the report says, have no defense against air attacks.
The details from the village show how ordinary places have become targets. Tea shops in Myanmar are not simply businesses; they function as neighborhood gathering points where people eat, talk and keep in touch with daily life. That makes the attack particularly significant as a civilian casualty event, not just a battlefield strike.
The local witness said two bombs dropped by a jet fighter exploded after air raid sirens sounded, leaving no time for people to reach shelter. More than 20 houses near the shop were damaged. Independent media, including Myanmar Now, released pictures and videos that reportedly showed debris from the strike.
AP says the military had not announced any attack in the area. The same reporting also notes that there had been no recent fighting nearby, which underlines why the strike has drawn attention. In a conflict where the front lines shift and civilian communities are often exposed to air power without warning, the attack in Sagaing is another example of how the military's strategy continues to put non-combatants in the path of violence.
Residents reportedly fled after the victims' funeral, while others stayed behind and began digging bomb shelters. That response captures the bleak normalisation of war in Myanmar: people adapting not to peace, but to the expectation of another strike.
