Regime commits at least 56 massacres in four months: research group

By Admin 03 Oct 2024

DMG Newsroom
3 October 2024, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime was responsible for at least 56 massacres across the country in the four months from May through August, reported Nyan Lin Thit Analytica, an independent research group monitoring Myanmar’s political situation.

Its Thursday report defined massacres as involving at least five persons killed in each. A total of 705 civilians were killed.

The highest numbers of deaths were caused by regime airstrikes, artillery attacks and raids. There were 56 cases committed by junta forces and four cases in which the name of the group responsible was not known, the report said.

A total of 643 civilians were killed over the four-month period due to the junta’s attacks, and 62 civilians were killed in four incidents where the perpetrators were unknown.

Among the mass civilian deaths in Arakan State, 78 people were killed in Maungdaw Township, 76 people in Sittwe Township and 56 people in Thandwe Township.

“The fact that over 700 people died in four months is quite shocking. This is because the military regime, which is militarily defeated, is attacking all of them as enemies, regardless of civilian or military targets,” said a human rights activist.

International and Myanmar-based human rights groups have repeatedly called for an end to the military regime’s targeted attacks on civilians and human rights violations, to no avail.

Of the 60 massacres, 24 were aerial bombing raids that killed 271 people. Mandalay Region suffered the most, with six air raids, followed by Arakan State with five.

There were eight recorded incidents of raids in which junta soldiers slaughtered 155 civilians. Four cases were reported in Sagaing Region, and the rest took place in Arakan State and Mandalay and Bago regions. The deadliest raid took place in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township when junta soldiers massacred 76 civilians on May 29.

Fourteen massacres were the result of junta artillery strikes, killing 119 people and damaging numerous homes and other buildings. Six were reported in Arakan State, three in northern Shan State and the rest in other regions and states.

“The military regime’s unlawful killings and human rights violations against civilians continue to rise day by day. The actions of the military regime can only be stopped by the United Nations and the international community,” said a youth activist in Arakan State.

“The United Nations and the international community also need to put pressure on the countries that are supporting the military regime. If this cannot be stopped, the lives of Myanmar people will continue to be worthless in the hands of the military regime,” he added.

There were 62 deaths in four massacres without the perpetrators being known. It has also been alleged that Muslims fleeing Maungdaw Town in August were attempting to cross the Naf River to Bangladesh when the Arakkha Army (AA) fired on them with artillery and drones, killing potentially hundreds of Muslims. The AA has denied the allegations.

The military junta committed at least 320 massacres from its coup in February 2021 to September 2024, killing 3,195 people. The most civilian casualties were recorded in Sagaing Region and Arakan State, according to Nyan Lin Thit Analytica.