Fighting has ravaged large tracts of Myanmar since a military coup in 2021 that sparked renewed clashes with ethnic rebel groups, as well as the formation of dozens of "People's Defence Forces" now battling the junta.

The military bombed a gathering in an opposition stronghold last month that media and locals said killed about 170 people, sparking renewed global condemnation.

The military had used a thermobaric bomb in the attack on Pazi Gyi village in Sagaing region, HRW said. Their assessment was based on analysis of 59 photos of the victims' bodies and a video of the site following the strike.

Thermobaric bombs, also known "vacuum bombs" are more powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions and use two separate charges.

The first scatters a fuel mixture as a cloud around the target and the second detonates the cloud, sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere and forming a huge fireball. 

The thermobaric bomb used in Pazi Gyi had caused "indiscriminate and disproportionate civilian casualties [...] and was an apparent war crime", HRW said.

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