Over 90 incidents of mass civilian killings since Myanmar coup

By Admin 20 Sep 2025

DMG Newsroom

20 September 2025, Yangon

Since Myanmar's military seized power in February 2021, there have been at least 92 incidents of mass civilian killings across the country, according to a statement released on September 19 by the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar).

These killings took place in 12 locations including Arakan, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Mon, Karen and Kayah states, as well as Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, Bago and Tanintharyi regions.

ISP-Myanmar said that over the more than four years since the coup, at least 92 incidents in which 10 or more civilians were killed at once have been documented nationwide, leaving at least 1,808 civilians dead.

On September 12, a junta airstrike on a private boarding school in Thayet Ta Pin Village, Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, killed 20 students and injured more than 22 others.

"I don't want anyone else to experience such horror as my younger sister. I want the international community to pressure the junta so planes can't fly over Arakan. I also want the world to know what is happening on the ground. I appeal for them not to stand idly by," said Daw U Ma Yin from Min Thar Taung Village, Kyaukaw Township.

Earlier, on August 25, a junta airstrike on Daingkyi Ward, Mrauk-U Township, killed 14 civilians including children and injured 20 others. Similarly, on May 12 this year, a junta air raid on a school in Ohtaintwin Village, Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, killed 24 people-including 22 children and two female teachers-and injured nearly 50 others.

According to ISP-Myanmar, civilians have been killed en masse due to the junta's indiscriminate use of weapons including artillery shelling, arson, and airstrikes.

A mother who lost her daughter in the Kyauktaw school bombing said: "Losing my daughter feels like the whole world has collapsed. I even wanted to kill them myself. But I will seek justice by lawful means. Even if my daughter's fate was to die, it was their weapons that killed her. They murdered her. One day, someone will rise to defeat them."

Currently, the junta's deliberate targeting patterns are not limited to civilian homes but also include religious buildings, hospitals, clinics, and schools, leading to rising mass civilian casualties, especially among children.

Of the documented mass killings, 88 incidents were committed by the junta, leaving 1,723 civilians dead, while 85 civilians were killed in incidents attributed to resistance forces, ISP-Myanmar said.

Some 52 percent of the incidents were caused by airstrikes. Observers note that the military has increasingly relied on airpower-including combat helicopters, jet fighters, and drones-alongside ground offensives, raising concerns that mass killings will only escalate.

"These bombings and mass killings are extreme acts of brutality by the military. The international community must stop arms sales to Myanmar. Selling weapons is enabling genocide. The UN and ASEAN must intervene, investigate, and take effective action against these atrocities," said a local man from Arakan.

ISP-Myanmar further warned that civilians in territories under resistance control and in conflict zones face the highest levels of risk. It added that attacks often target civilians out of suspicion, security considerations, or as a tactic of war-fueling both mass killings and widespread destruction of homes, and significantly expanding the junta's record of war crimes.