Bangkok (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta has pressed ahead with its campaign of air strikes despite the country’s devastating earthquake, with a rebel group telling AFP Sunday seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the tremors hit.

The Myanmar military has increasingly turned to air strikes as it struggles to gain the upper hand against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups in the civil war.

Friday’s massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which has killed at least 1,700 people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings, prompted some armed groups to suspend hostilities while the country deals with the crisis.

But fighters from the Danu People’s Liberation Army, an ethnic minority armed group active in northern Shan state, said they were hit by an air strike soon after the quake struck.

Five military aircraft attacked their base in Naungcho township, killing seven fighters, one of their officers told AFP.

“Our soldiers tried to get into bunkers when they heard the sound of aircraft,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“But one big bomb hit one bunker where five female soldiers were killed on the spot.”

There have been reports of other air strikes since the quake, but AFP has not been able to verify them.