More than 500 civilians have been killed by Myanmar military’s airstrikes across the country in the last three years since the military coup, according to data collected by Burma News International (BNI)-Myanmar Peace Monitor.
The military has carried out airstrikes across the country, killing a total of 566 civilians, BNI-MPM’s lead researcher said at the launch of the analysis papers “Monsters in the Sky or the Junta’s Air Threat” and “Models and Designs for Building a Federal Democratic Union” on 6 December.
More than 80 percent of the attacks targeted civilians, a BNI-MPM official said at the press conference.
“There were 566 civilian casualties. Among them are 23 massacres in which five or more civilians were killed by the military council’s airstrikes. The junta mainly targeted ethnic forces and civilians. The People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) are only a third target of their attacks. We found that the military council carried out more airstrikes as it suffered more casualties among its troops. The details are detailed in the report,” he said.
In addition, he shared that the military regime conducted more than 40 days of airstrikes in 2021, more than 150 days of airstrikes in 2022 and more than 350 days of airstrikes until 7 November 2023, with the Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) in Karen State, Kachin State, Chin State and Karenni State suffering the most from the military’s aerial warfare, according to the BNI-MPM data.
The MPM official also said that the resistance forces, including the EROs, to defend themselves from air strikes, have carried out more targeted attacks on the military’s airbases, even using anti-aircraft weapons such as 0.5-caliber guns, in addition to instructing locals to dig bomb shelters and sharing intelligence.
“For example, they pass on information about military flights via Telegram channels. Still, they can’t fully defend themselves against the military’s airstrikes because communication on the ground is disrupted. We have seen 0.5 caliber weapons being used in incidents. We have no data on which groups have how many weapons, as they (the armed groups) do not give out this information. There are links to urban guerrillas who fire unguided rockets at air bases. Also, the groups have to work together for their security,” he said.
BNI-MPM pointed out that the military junta’s airstrikes have increased year on year since the coup. The report was written to shed light and analyze not only the airstrikes but also the military bases.
The official added at the press conference that they have also interviewed the people who have taken shelter in the displacement camps affected by the airstrikes and that they have included information to show ways to hinder the military’s air warfare.
As the no-fly zone has not yet been implemented by the international community, the MPM has also recommended blocking the supply of aviation fuel to Myanmar.
The BNI-MPM, which is composed of 15 ethnic and regional media outlets, was established in 2013 to monitor and compile information on the peace process in Myanmar.
Sent by KIC.