The military regime is using thermobaric bombs, which are more destructive than conventional high-explosive bombs, indiscriminately against both civilian and military targets, according to records from ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and military experts.
These bombs, also known as aerosol bombs, have been used in Shan State, Chin State, Kachin State and Sagaing Region, they said.
The regime used them against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) when the latter attacked the junta’s 21st Military Operations Command in Bhamo Township, Kachin State, a KIA source told The Irrawaddy.
A thermobaric bomb consists of a fuel container with two separate explosive charges. When it hits its target, the first explosive charge blows open the container and widely disperses the fuel mixture as an aerosol. A second charge then detonates this aerosol, resulting in a huge fireball, a massive blast wave and a vacuum that sucks up all surrounding oxygen.
“Besides thermobaric bombs dropped by aircraft, the regime also uses thermobaric … rocket-propelled grenades, grenades, recoilless rifles and multiple rocket launchers,” he added.
The KIA source explained that unlike a conventional grenade, a thermobaric grenade does not use a high-explosive material. “Instead, it contains fuel. This mixes with oxygen in the atmosphere [and is ignited] to create shock waves and pressure waves. You can get hurt even if you take cover in a building or bunker,” he said.
Thermobaric bombs are more effective when used in enclosed spaces like tunnels and bunkers, he said.
Even if people are not directly hit by the explosion, they may still die from suffocation as the bombs suck up surrounding oxygen, said a weapons analyst.
The shockwaves can damage victims’ hearing and lungs, and even if a bomb does not explode, the fuel can be poisonous, according to a report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency.
Myanmar military defector and former captain Zin Yaw said: “Thermobaric bombs are normally used during the peak of the battle, especially when the enemy’s defenses are collapsing. They are also used if [the military] discovers the exact location of the enemy. They are used against both civilian and military targets.”
In battles in southern Chin State, infantry battalions were ordered to use thermobaric explosives with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The regime is believed to have used thermobaric bombs even before the coup. An old picture The Irrawaddy has acquired shows a 250-kg thermobaric bomb being fitted to an A-5 jet fighter at Tada-U Air Base in Mandalay in 2017.
The Myanmar military buys air-dropped thermobaric bombs from China, and produces thermobaric rocket-propelled grenades by itself. Its ordnance factory No. 3 (KaPaSa No. 3) near Sinte Village opposite Pyay town in Bago Region produces 80-mm thermobaric rocket-propelled grenades with Russian technology.
Human Rights Watch said the regime used thermobaric bombs in its attack on Pazi Gyi Village in Sagaing Region’s Kantbalu Township on April 11, 2023, which left more than 170 people dead.
The regime also used 250-lb China-made thermobaric bombs in battles in Laukkai in northern Shan State, according to Chinese media reports that included photos.
The KIA also said the Myanmar military used them in Kachin after fighting renewed there in 2011.
