The military airstrikes killed 359 civilians and injured 756 ones between January and April 2024, according to a report released by the Nyan Lin Thit Research Group on May 22.
During these four months, there were 819 airstrikes, an average of at least six airstrikes per day. The most incidents of air attacks were in Rakhine State, Sagaing Region, Kachin State, Kayin State, and northern Shan State, according to the report.
“The large number of airstrikes in Sagaing is also territorially related to the ethnic resistance forces. When we changed from defensive to offensive war, we were able to exert pressure on the military junta. It can be considered that airstrikes are being used as an advantage of the military junta to instill fear in the people,” a resistance comrade in Sagaing told MPA.
The report also states that the resistance forces and local residents claimed that chemical gas bombs were used in air strikes by the military during these four months.
In the battle of Kayin State’s Kawkareik between April 19 and 20, 2024, the military junta attacked with chemical vapor bombs, poisoning the resistance comrades, according to a report of the White Tiger Column.
In addition, 50 religious buildings, 38 schools and 11 hospitals were damaged by the junta airstrikes, and houses, vehicles, animals and livestock and plantations were also damaged, according to the report of Nyan Lin Thit Research Group.
“Despite the military bombings and killings in violation of the Geneva Convention, no effective action has been taken by the international community so far. This makes our people realize that they can only overcome this bad situation if they rely on themselves,” said a political observer.
According to statistics from February 2021 of military coup to the end of April 2024, 1,295 civilians were killed and 1,634 were injured by the junta’s airstrikes.
Translator: Grace