Myanmar’s junta has conducted an average of seven airstrikes a day across the country over the past four months, killing up to four civilians a day, according to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, an independent group monitoring junta atrocities against civilians.
The research group said the junta conducted a total of 820 airstrikes from May to August this year alone, killing a total of 455 civilians and wounding 819 others.
Most airstrikes targeted Rakhine and Northern Shan states, where almost all towns and townships have fallen under the control of ethnic armed organizations.
Rakhine state reported the most airstrikes with 176, followed by Shan with 151, and Mandalay Region with 132. The junta also conducted 109 aerial bombardments in Kachin State and 71 in Sagaing Region, the researchers said.
Junta airstrikes were also reported across the other seven regions and states.
They destroyed swathes of civilian infrastructure, including 61 religious buildings, 28 schools and 16 hospitals, while laying waste to vehicles, livestock and farms belonging to civilians.
Nyan Lynn Thit said that the frequency of aerial attacks increased every year since the coup in 2021, resulting in a harrowing toll of civilian casualties and destruction.
In all, the junta conducted a total of 3,292 airstrikes across the country in which 1,749 civilians were killed and 2,453 injured between February 2021 and August this year, it said.
Since early September, when junta boss Min Aung Hlaing vowed to retake lost territory with a counteroffensive, the junta’s air force has escalated its campaign of aerial bombardments even further.
By The Irrawaddy’s own tally, the junta has since unleashed over 150 airstrikes on civilian targets in towns, schools, markets and hotels in areas seized by the resistance across the country.
They killed over 180 people and wounded dozens.
The airstrikes continue although junta forces are no longer able to conduct ground operations in these areas, in what appears to be a desperate campaign of attrition by the regime.
On Wednesday, Y12 airplanes dropped over 60 bombs on Hsipaw town, which is under the control of the ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), killing a Buddhist nun, injuring two residents and destroying a dozen civilian houses.
The airstrikes came as the ethnic army was attempting to seize the junta’s last remaining stronghold in the area, Infantry Battalion 23 headquarters outside the town.
The same day, the junta also conducted air and artillery strikes on villages in Pauktaw and Ponnakyun townships bordering the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe, which had been seized by the ethnic Arakan Army (AA), even though no recent clashes had taken place there. The attacks wounded some residents and damaged civilian buildings.
Junta aircraft also bombed Tanlwe Ywar Ma, a small town under the AA’s control in Taungup Township, on Tuesday night, killing 16 civilians including children and injuring others.
The AA, TNLA and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) are all part of the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched the successful anti-regime Operation 1027 in northern Shan State in October last year.
The offensive has seized almost the whole of northern Shan State, capturing around 25 towns and townships including the capital Lashio and vital trade routes with China. Last month, the junta conducted 14 airstrikes on civilian targets in MNDAA-held Lashio, killing several civilians and injuring a dozen people.
The AA, meanwhile, has taken control of most of Rakhine State, seizing a dozen towns and townships since expanding Operation 1027 to western Myanmar in November last year. The ethnic army is continuing its efforts to seize remaining towns and townships.
