Junta attacks in Arakan cause over 430 civilian casualties in six months

By Admin 02 Jul 2025

DMG Newsroom

2 July 2025, Sittwe

At least 154 civilians were killed and 278 others were injured in Arakan State by junta air and artillery attacks, raids, and explosions of landmines, unexploded ordnance and killings by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in the six months from January through June, according to a DMG tally.

The highest number of civilian casualties were caused by junta airstrikes, with 115 killed and 200 injured, for a total of 315.

About 70 percent of the dead and injured were women and children, with 38 children killed and 63 injured and 73 women killed and 89 injured.

The Arakan Army (AA) has seized 14 of 17 townships in Arakan State and Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State. The military regime has responded to the AA onslaught by conducting aerial bombardments and drone attacks on areas controlled by the AA.

But the military regime has also been increasingly targeting civilian towns and villages, and temporary shelters for displaced persons, which are not valid military targets, and the number of civilian deaths and injuries rises every month.

Due to the military regime's airstrikes, local people in Arakan State live daily in a state of psychological and physical insecurity.

Customary international humanitarian law requires any armed organisation to protect civilians and bars them from attacking, abducting or using civilians as human shields, or targeting civilian dwellings.

The military regime continues to carry out airstrikes, arrests and killings of civilians across the country with impunity.