Introduction
Since the military coup on 1 February 2021, People’s Defense Forces/Local Defense Forces (PDFs/LDFs), along with Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs), have been engaging in armed resistance against the military council using various methods. In response, the junta has employed various brutal and cruel tactics in attacking these resistance forces.
After losing more territory following the first and second waves of Operation 1027, the junta increasingly resorted to airstrikes. These airstrikes have not only targeted civilian areas such as villages and towns, but also detention facilities where junta soldiers or prisoners of war (POWs) are being held.
This week’s Burma News International (BNI)-Myanmar Peace Monitor’s Bi-Weekly News Review focuses on incidents of junta airstrikes specifically targeting POWs.
Junta Airstrikes Targeting POWs
The military council began targeting POWs with aerial bombings towards the end of 2024, with two such incidents recorded in January 2025 alone.
The junta started bombings in Arakan State’s Pauktaw Township on 8 September, and on Four Mile Camp (Border Guard Police Battalion-2) in Maungdaw Township on 9 September, resulting in the deaths of several POWs and civilians. In another attack on a camp in Shin Ywar village on Ah Lel Hpa Yon Kar Island south of Pauktaw, 17 people were killed, including 7 POWs. According to a statement by Arakha Army (AA), among the victims were people detained on suspicion of being junta informants, those accused of sending information to the junta, those serving sentences, as well as detention center staff and health workers. 1
The AA stated that, over 50 people were killed in Maundaw on 9 September, including prisoners of war and civilian detainees captured during its offensives to capture towns in Arakan State. 2 Furthermore, on 28 October 2024, the junta bombed a POW detention facility of the Mandalay People’s Defense Force (MDY-PDF) in Nawnghkio Township on the Mandalay-northern Shan border, killing 12 people, including 8 POWs and injuring 60 others or so. 3
Again, on 30 October, another bombing by the junta on the same detention facility killed four people, including a major who was a POW, and injured another. 4 On 18 January 2025, a junta airstrike using a fighter jet targeted an area near Yan Chaung village in Mrauk-U Township, where families of enemy POWs were held, leading to the death of 28 people, including children and women. These family members were of military personnel captured during conflicts in the Arakan region, with plans already in place by the AA to release them soon. 5
On 4 January 2025, the junta also bombed a school and hospital in Khum Long village in Falam Township, Chin State, killing a police lieutenant, three police sub-lieutenants, a police sergeant, a police corporal, and the wife of a police officer. Four other police officers were also injured. 6
Hundreds of POWs Killed in Junta Airstrikes
According to data collected by BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor, over a 5-month period from September 2024 to January 2025, there were six incidents where the junta bombed locations holding POWs, resulting in over 104 deaths among prisoners and their family members. Of these six incidents, three occurred in Arakan State, two in the border area between northern Shan State and Mandalay Region, and one in Chin State.
As the military council continues to lose territory across the country, it has increasingly targeted civilian areas including schools, hospitals, markets, religious buildings, IDP camps, and other populated areas.
BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor data shows that more than 1,850 civilians have been killed in airstrikes as of 11 February 2025, since the military coup on 1 February 2021. The death toll has increased year after year: 185 civilian deaths from airstrikes in 2022, 646 in 2023, and 1,001 in 2024. 7
As attacks targeting civilians have increased, so too have the deaths among POWs and their family members who are being held by ethnic armed organizations and People’s Defense Forces.
Review
The military council has carried out the highest number of airstrikes on prisoners of war in Arakan State. This can be attributed to the increased number of offensives to capture towns in the region during 2024, leading to more airstrikes and higher casualties among both civilians and POWs.
According to BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor data, there have been 379 airstrike events in Arakan State since the 2021 military coup, with over 88 percent of these (336 events) occurring in 2024.
Regarding the targeting of POWs in Arakan State, AA spokesperson U Khaing Thukha has suggested that the junta might be targeting prisoner officers who could testify to war crimes it has committed, in an attempt to cover up these crimes. 8 The fact that there have been three incidents of airstrikes on POW detention facilities in Arakan State within just five months clearly indicates an effort to conceal war crimes.
Furthermore, the repeated airstrikes on the MDY-PDF’s POW detention facility on both 28 and 30 October indicate the junta’s deliberate targeting of POWs.
Regarding the airstrikes on its detention facility, the MDY-PDF has stated that despite treating captured prisoners according to the law, the junta has targeted its former personnel in these airstrikes. 9
In conclusion, as the military council continues to lose ground, its use of indiscriminate aerial attacks against both civilians and POWs has escalated. Resistance groups should take special precautions against aerial threats in areas they control, study the patterns of these attacks, and systematically improve air defense strategies. Additionally, it is crucial for resistance forces to promptly gather evidence from POWs who can testify to the military junta’s war crimes, as these individuals are significant witnesses.
1 Junta bombs Pauktaw, prisoners among 17 dead, Myanmar Now, 10 Sep. 2024
2 Over 50 POWs and detainees killed in junta airstrike, Mizzima, 10 Sep. 2024
3 Junta bombs MDY-PDF’s temporary POW detention facility, Western News, 19 Oct. 2024
4 Another junta bombing targets MDY-PDF’s temporary POW detention facility, four killed including a major, Shan News, 31 Oct. 2024
5 Junta bombing targets temporary detention facility housing POWs and their families, 28 killed and 25 injured, Narinjara, 19 Jan. 2025
6 Seven POWs including police officers killed junta bombing in Falam, Mizzima, 6 Jan. 2025
7 Military Junta’s Airstrikes in Myanmar
8 Junta bombs AA’s detention facility, BBC, 21 Sep. 2024
9 Junta bombs MDY-PDF’s POW detention facility, Western News, 29 Oct. 2024