More than 660,000 people have been displaced across Myanmar since the launch of Operation 1027 on Oct. 27, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, citing numbers as of Dec. 15.
In its previous report, on Nov. 22, the agency put the number at about 335,000.
The latest data shows a twofold increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in seven states and five regions as an offensive against Myanmar’s military regime by three ethnic armies enters its eighth week.
The surge in IDPs is on top of the at least 2.6 million people displaced nationwide since the February 2021 coup, the UN agency reported.
Operation 1027 was launched by the Brotherhood Alliance – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army – in northern Shan state on Oct. 27.
In a show of support for the offensive, coordinated armed clashes against the military regime subsequently erupted in six more states – Chin, Karenni (Kayah), Karen, Kachin, Mon and Rakhine – and five regions: Sagaing, Magwe, Mandalay, Tanintharyi and eastern Bago.
Northern Shan state has seen the largest number of IDPs: 120,000 people have fled their homes since the launch of the Oct. 27 offensive and the escalating indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling that the Myanmar military responded with. About 99,000 people remain displaced in 16 townships in northern Shan State as of Dec. 15, according to data from the UN refugee agency.
More than 130 civilians were killed and 210 were injured in northern Shan State due to the escalation of attacks on civilians by junta troops following the launch of the Oct. 27 offensive, the UN agency reported. At least 430 houses and religious buildings were also damaged in 15 townships in northern Shan state during the same period, the agency reported.
An estimated 111,000 people have also been displaced from their homes in at least 10 townships of Chin and Rakhine states since the launch of the Oct. 27 offensive.
At least 37 people were killed and 121 injured due to the fighting in Rakhine State between Nov. 13 and Dec. 11, according to the UN agency.
Fierce clashes also displaced at least 136,000 people in Karenni, Karen and Mon states, as well as southern Shan State and two regions – Tanintharyi and eastern Bago – between Oct. 31 and Dec. 11, the UN said.
Volunteers and residents of the Karenni State capital, Loikaw, say more than 40,000 residents have been displaced from the town since the start of Operation 1111 on Nov. 11.
Junta shelling, air strikes and shootings killed at least 82 people and wounded over 70 more in Loikaw and Demoso townships and neighboring southern Shan state’s Pekon Township, local rights groups said.
The UN estimates that more than 314,000 people were displaced in Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe regions, with about half of them – over 150,000 people – displaced in two townships of northern Sagaing Region: Kawlin and Tigyaing.
Allied ethnic and resistance forces have captured at least 21 towns and overrun more than 400 junta bases and outposts in seven states and five regions since the launch of Operation 1027.
