Myanmar army has intensified the campaign to target the resistance and launched air strikes in the South.
On March 11, Irrawaddy reports that the troops massacred 23 civilians including a female resident and three Buddhist monks during a raid on Nam Name Village in Pinlaung Township, southern Shan State
This came about as the People’s Defense Force groups (PDFs) and Karen Nationalities Defense Force fighters from Pinlaung, Pekon, Mobyeand nearby Naypyitaw and Kayah State attacked regime forces that were torching houses.
Many junta troops are also believed to have been killed and injured, the KRU said.
Intense fighting is ongoing in Mandalay, Sagaing, Magwe, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions and Karen and Kayah states. There is also fierce resistance in the Chin State. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which monitors regime killings and arrests has claimed that 3000 civilians have been killed by the military after the coup. 19,739 people have been arrested and, of them, 15,882 remain are under detention. Thousands of civilian shelters and houses have been burnt down. This fighting is unlikely to be impacted by the nuclear agreement.
State of Violence in Myanmar February
Intense fighting is ongoing in Mandalay, Sagaing, Magwe, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions and Karen and Kayah states. There is also fierce resistance in the Chin State. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic groups, has called for rapid and unified resistance to oust a military junta in crisis.
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which monitors regime killings and arrests has claimed that 3000 civilians have been killed by the military after the coup.. 19,739 people have been arrested and, of them, 15,882 remain are under detention.
Similarly, Myanmar military troops have been accused of burning down 55,484 houses since the 2021 coup, according to independent research team Data For Myanmar. Data For Myanmar collected reports of arson attacks until January 31. 80 percent of the destroyed houses were in Sagaing Region as per the Irrawaddy
Resistance stronghold Sagaing Region suffered the most arson attacks, with 43,292 houses burned, followed by 8,863 in Magwe Region and 1,484 in Chin State, according to Data For Myanmar’s report. Of those killed, 1,229 people, or nearly 41 percent of total fatalities, were killed by junta and Pyu Saw Htee militia personnel in Sagaing Region. Neighboring Mandalay Region ranked second with 350 killed, while Yangon Region followed with 316. The report did not include those killed fighting the miltary thus the numbers could increase.
Land mines and unexploded munitions injured or killed more than one person every day in Myanmar last year, the United Nations said, pointing to a 40 percent spike in casualties compared to 2021.
United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, reported that 390 people were wounded or killed by land mines or unexploded ordnance in 2022, an almost 40 percent spike compared to the previous year. Around two-thirds of the incidents were reported in border areas where ethnic rebels have battled the army and each other for decades over autonomy and control of resources like timber, jade and the drugs trade.