Home News Civilian casualties surge in Myanmar as junta intensifies attacks

Civilian casualties surge in Myanmar as junta intensifies attacks

Myanmar’s military junta has increased attacks on civilians, with a reported 435 people killed in massacres in the first nine months of 2024, according to a report from the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar). 

The ISP-Myanmar documented instances of ten or more civilians killed in a single event, resulting in several hundred civilian deaths from January through early October, according to a report by AsiaNews

Reports indicated the military is using tactics involving arrests, torture, and summary executions of civilians, often on accusations of supporting opposition forces.



In addition, at least 25 civilians were killed by the junta in Budalin, Sagaing region, between Oct. 9 and 20, and another six died in an airstrike on Myaung. 

Radio Free Asia (RFA), which also reviewed the report, noted that “civilians killed in mass events so far in 2024 mark the latest in a yearly increase since the coup, with 379 in 2023, 245 in 2022, and 113 in 2021.”

Researchers reported that the junta has increasingly turned to artillery and airstrikes on homes, schools, and religious buildings. 

On Oct. 19, around 100 soldiers from Battalion No. 33 attacked Si Par village in Budalin, reportedly killing 22 civilians, including two elderly people. 

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“The junta forces treat people like animals, not like human beings,” a source told researchers, speaking anonymously for security. “They killed people of various ages, including people in their 60s and 70s… It was so cruel that I cannot talk about it in detail.”

Recently, human rights organization Fortify Rights has urged the United Nations Security Council to implement an immediate embargo on aviation fuel and weapons to the Myanmar military junta following a deadly airstrike that killed nine internally displaced persons in Pekon Township. 

The attack occurred on Sept. 5, when a junta jet targeted the “Bangkok Camp,” a refuge for more than 600 displaced individuals on the Karenni-Shan state border, killing six children and leaving 19 others injured.

“The Myanmar junta’s jets continue to pound civilian communities with complete impunity as the world watches and stays silent,” said Fortify Rights’ Human Rights Associate, Chit Seng. 

Kyaw Win, director of the Burma Human Rights Network, pointed to the junta’s intent to create fear and deter public support for resistance. 

“This is a strategy by the junta to threaten people … to prevent them from associating with [the rebels],” he said. “It is a strategy of intimidation.” The military denies documented cases of mass killings.

Myanmar’s UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun recently urged the UN Security Council to refer the junta to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

“It is impossible to hold the military regime accountable for its war crimes in the country’s courts given the conflict situation,” he said.

In western Rakhine state, at least 1,000 civilians remain trapped as the Arakan Army advances toward the junta’s headquarters in Ann, cutting off roads and leaving residents stranded. 

“We have nowhere to go. Every road is closed,” said one witness, adding, “the fighting is becoming extremely intense.” Most of Ann’s 10,000 residents fled as fighting intensified in July, but some families remain unable to leave the area.

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