Despite its repeated calls for peace talks, the regime carried out airstrikes in 40 towns across Myanmar in January, killing over 170 people and continuing its war crimes.
The Irrawaddy collected and analyzed reports of junta airstrikes throughout January.
Most of the airstrikes’ victims were civilians, as the regime deliberately targeted towns and villages, displacement camps, schools, hospitals and detention centers housing prisoners of war, The Irrawaddy has learned.
Intentional attacks on civilian areas including villages, towns and schools, as well as buildings dedicated to education, healthcare and religion, are considered war crimes under international law.
Of 14 regions and states in Myanmar, only Yangon was spared the junta’s aerial campaign. Geographically, the main targets were territories held by ethnic rebel groups like the Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan and Karen states as well as resistance-held areas in Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe in central Myanmar.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported on Jan. 7 that around 100 people died at the hands of the regime in December, of whom 45 were killed in airstrikes. The nearly four-fold increase in airstrike victims in January to more than 170 people—including children and women—is an indication that the regime has intensified its terror campaign.
The townships targeted during the month were Mogoke, Singu, Thabbeikkyin, Madaya, Bhamo, Ramree, Tanai, Kyauktaw, Pekon, Hsihseng, Hpakant, Kyaukme, Tanintharyi, Demoso, Khampat, Waingmaw, Lawksawk, Yesagyo, Shwe Thaung Yan, Kale, Taungtha, Mrauk-U, Ye, Matupi, Falam, Nawnghkio, Kyaikdon, Natoegyi, Meiktila, Shwekyin, Myingyan, Tigyaing, Yekyi, Thabaung, Bawlakhe, Sawhti, Hsenwi, Ponnagyun, Myebon and Myaing.
Ramree and Mrauk-U towns—both controlled by the AA in Rakhine State—and a gold mine in Kachin State’s Tanai town controlled by the KIA saw the highest number of casualties.
Nearly 40 people were killed in Kyauknimaw Village on Ramree Island in the most lethal air attack in January, followed by Mrauk-U, where a temporary prison housing captive junta soldiers and their families was bombed on Jan. 18, killing 28 people.
In the third-most-deadly incident, a junta airstrike killed 20 civilians at a gold mine in Tanai, Kachin State. KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy there was no fighting in Tanai at the time of the junta’s air attack there.
In other notable incidents, around 18 people were killed in a junta airstrike on a village in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region on Jan. 26, and the regime bombed Hsenwi controlled by the MNDAA in northern Shan State on Jan. 1 before the two sides signed a truce.
The regime also bombed a public hospital in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme controlled by the TNLA, as well as a health facility in Singu Township, Mandalay Region controlled by the Mandalay People’s Defense Force.
Three people were killed in a junta airstrike on a displacement camp in Karenni State’s Demoso Township, and as many as 11 people were killed when the regime bombed a displacement camp in Kokko Village in Sagaing Region’s Kale Township on Jan. 31.
Only a small fraction of victims killed by the regime were revolutionary forces; the rest were civilians.
The regime has used warplanes, drones and paragliders to attack civilians from the air.
Despite his repeated calls for peace and dialogue, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has carried out his air campaign from east to west and from north to south in Myanmar.
Between the military coup in February 2021 and August 2024, the regime carried out at least 3,292 airstrikes, mostly against civilian targets, killing 1,749 people, according to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica.
Naung Naung contributed to this story.
