Myanmar Junta Attack Kills 359 People In Four Months

Leader of the Myanmar military regime Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Myanmar's junta airstrikes killed 359 civilians, including 61 children, and injured 756 others in the first four months of 2024, according to a recent report.

The death toll from the junta airstrikes has risen sharply since the 2021 coup, the number has risen from 63 in 2021 to 260 in 2022 and 613 in 2023, according to a report from Nyan Lit Thit Analytica, which monitors regime atrocities.

The regime's bombings and airstrikes occur every day across Myanmar from January to April, the report said. There were 819 airstrikes recorded at the time, with an average of at least six attacks per day.

The area facing the most frequent attacks was Rakhine State 187 times, followed by Sagaing Region 119 times.

The junta airstrike destroyed 50 houses of worship, 38 schools, 11 health centers in four months, the research group reported.

The report also found six suspected use of chemical weapons by regimes in several regions.

A military analyst estimates the increase in airstrikes due to junta forces losing much of the region. The airstrikes are to prevent revolutionary forces from building peace and stability and disrupting civilian life, he said.

Since the coup in February 2021, the report documented 2,471 airstrikes as of April 30, 2024, which resulted in 1,295 deaths.

Meanwhile, international efforts are still ongoing to find a long and sustainable solution to this crisis.

Earlier on Friday, May 24, the United Nations human rights office estimated that 45,000 ethnic Rohingya residents were reportedly displaced to areas near the border with Bangladesh amid ongoing fighting.

We received a frightening and troubling report from Rakhine State in northern Myanmar regarding the impact of the conflict on the lives and property of civilians. Some of the most serious accusations related to the murder of Rohingya civilians and the burning of their property, Liz Thorsell's spokesman said at a UN press conference in Geneva.

The majority of Rohingya residents living in Bangladesh fled the brutal military crackdown in Rakhine, Myanmar in 2017. Most of them were stationed in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar, but since late 2020, more than 33,000 people have been relocated to Bhasan Char Island.