The Myanmar military junta is intensifying a major ground and air operation targeting villages within the Myaing oil field, a key energy production area among Myanmar’s inland oil fields. During this operation, more than 50 civilians have been killed or injured, and over 370 homes of local residents have been burned down.
Although Myaing is a small town with only three urban wards, it is a crucial region militarily due to its geographic location, including transportation routes, energy resources, and connections to surrounding areas. Since the junta can only control the administration within the small town of Myaing, their efforts to assert control over the surrounding villages have led to intense power struggles with local resistance forces, leaving local civilians as targets of retaliation and victims of the conflict.
This issue of BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor’s Biweekly News Review examines the conditions faced by local residents around Myaing Township, the junta’s ground and air offensive operations, and the strategic military importance of the Myaing oil field.
Civilian Victims in the Myaing Oil-Field Region
Centre for Ah Nyar Studies reported that over the 47-day period from 23 June to 8 August 2026, 38 local civilians were killed and 15 were injured in the villages of Myaing and Pauk townships due to the military junta’s ground raids and airstrikes, with 370 local homes burned and destroyed. 1
According to interviews with family members of the deceased, local eyewitnesses, and residents familiar with the junta column’s movements, ground columns from Light Infantry Divisions 101 and 99 did not selectively destroy homes, buildings, and other civilian property, but instead burned every house along their route. A report by the Center of Ah Nyar Studies states that based on records of the 33 civilians who died due to village raids, some were arrested before being killed and suffered torture and severe physical violence.
The report notes that by raiding 27 villages across Myaing Township to the border of Pauk Township starting on 24 June – backed by simultaneous artillery fire and airstrikes – the junta conducted a major coordinated ground-and-air operation extending well beyond the immediate clash areas..
Junta’s Ground and Air Operation
According to statements from the Anyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing), the junta’s Pakokku-based LID-101 column has been maneuvering to launch offensives into the oil – field regions of Myaing and Pauk townships via the town of Kamma since late December 2025. Since then, the group has consistently issued timely alerts regarding the junta’s aerial threats and ground column movements.
A series of junta attacks occurred during this period: a jet fighter bombing in Nyaung Kone village in northern Myaing Township around 4pm on 31 December 2025; a bombing of a clinic in Wei Taung village in western Myaing Township by three gyrocopters at around 10:20am on 26 January 2026; and a bombing of an area near Thin Ma village in the township on the afternoon of 13 June 2026. These attacks were followed by the entrance of the LID-101 into the township in the second week of June.
The military junta’s ground troops split into three columns from the direction of Kamma in Pakokku Township and advanced toward Twin Ma village in northern Myaing Township early on the morning of 15 June. From there, they entered and stationed themselves in Mya Zee Taw and Hnin Si Kan villages, deploying their forces. On 16 June, it was later discovered that they arrested and killed a 60-year-old displaced man from nearby Thar Si village, who was living in a makeshift tent in the forest, by tying his hands behind his back. 2
The junta’s ground forces entering via southern Myaing Township also mobilized with one column from Meik Hti Lar village, one via Thayet Kan village, and another via Hnin Si Kan village, setting up a base in Kaing Taw Ma village and spreading out to raid villages to the east and west.
Simultaneously, the junta column that had burned down local homes in Htauk Shar Pin village, Pauk Township, continued its march toward Kaing Taw Ma village in Myaing Township. Along the way, they raided the villages of Nat Kan and Let Khoke Pin, killing at least two civilians and subsequently concealing their bodies. Furthermore, the Ah Nyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing) reported on 15 July that this column also burned and destroyed homes in nearby villages such as Nyaung Kone, Kaing Taw Ma, and Htan Nge Taw. 3
The escalation of airstrikes and increased deployment of ground columns within Myaing Township, which comprises three urban wards and over 330 villages indicate the junta’s objective to control the territories containing oil fields in Myaing and Pauk townships. Additionally, using airstrikes to provide cover for their ground operations clearly suggests that they are treating civilians as military targets.
Position of Resistance Forces in the Oil-Field Regio
The artisanal oil production areas in Magway Region’s Myaing and Pauk townships have been under the control of local resistance forces since 21 November 2022. These oil-bearing rural areas, which are connected by transportation routes to Sagaing Region and Chin State, serve as a major source of financial support for the resistance and hold a strategically important geographic position.
Therefore, to resist the military junta’s ground columns, the Interim Magway Federal Unit Government’s Ministry of Defense collaborated with local defense groups to form Pakokku District Column-1, Minbu District Column-2, Pakokku District Column-3, and Minbu District Column-4 on 1 June 2026.
“These oil-bearing rural areas, which are connected by transportation routes to Sagaing Region and Chin State, serve as a major source of financial support for the revolution and hold a strategically important geographic position”
In addition, township-based columns were formed, including Pauk Township-based Column-5, Myaing Township-based Column-6, Pakokku Township-based Column-9, Pauk Township-based Column-11, and Pakokku Township-based Column-13.
The Interim Magway Federal Unit Government’s Ministry of Defense annou-nced that on the afternoon of 23 June 2026, a junta Mi-17 helicopter was shot down at a location in Myaing Township through a strategic collaboration among columns under the Magway Federal Unit, the People’s Defense Force (Magway-PDF) under the National Unity Government (NUG) Ministry of Defense, and allied local defense forces.
Military columns formed by the Interim Magway Federal Unit Government’s Ministry of Defense operate under different names in the region. However, there are limitations and challenges in providing protection for local civilians against the threat of the military junta’s airstrikes.
Analysis
According to BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor data, since the military coup, Myaing Township has seen the second-highest number of armed conflict events among townships in the Magway Region 4 and has been the township most heavily targeted by junta airstrikes.5 It has also recorded the highest number of civilian fatalities linked to armed conflict events within the Magway Region. 6 In terms of internally displaced persons (IDP) numbers, Myaing Township is second only to Pauk Township. 7
Out of 117 townships nationwide where the military junta carried out aerial bombardments over a period of more than seven months from 1 January to 12 August 2026, Myaing Township was the third most heavily targeted township for airstrikes, following Myawaddy and Mindat.
It is worth noting that armed conflict events between junta forces and local resistance forces in Myaing Township have been even fewer than in the neighboring Pauk Township.
This suggests that the junta is avoiding direct confrontations with well-organized, united, and strongly coordinated resistance forces. Instead, it is escalating ground raids and airstrikes that deliberately target unarmed civilians.
Nevertheless, due to their geographical location encompassing transportat-ion, energy resources, and regional connections, militarily important oil field regions like Myaing, Pauk, and Pakokku remain crucial battlefields in the Anyar region. This points to a major battle between the junta and the local resistance coalition that could erupt at any time.
Therefore, the survival, security, and protection of civilians in the Myaing oil-field region who are already facing daily ground raids, arrests, killings, arson attacks on their homes, and aerial bombardments must be a vital consideration not only for resistance forces in Magway Region but also for resistance forces across the country. At the same time, preventing this strategically and financially important oil-field region from falling back into the hands of the military junta must be given serious consideration by resistance forces across the broader Spring Revolution.
“At the same time, preventing this strategically and financially important oil-field region from falling back into the hands of the military junta must be given serious consideration by resistance forces across the broader Spring Revolution.“
1.Civilians killed by Myanmar junta forces in Myaing and Pauk, 17 Aug 2026
2. Updates on junta columns in Myaing, Ah Nyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing), 18 Jun 2026
3.Updates on killings, concealment of bodies, and burning of homes by junta column, Ah Nyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing), 15 Jul 2026
4. Numbers Behind Myanmar’s Conflicts, BNI-MPM, 12 Aug 2026
5. Military Airstrikes Tracker, BNI-MPM, 12 Aug 2026
6. Conflict Fatalities Tracker, BNI-MPM, 12 Aug 2026
7. IDP Displacement Tracker, BNI-MPM, 12 Aug 2026