Bellingcat has recognized not less than 22 villages broken by airstrikes in Myanmar, regardless of a short lived ceasefire declared by the State Administrative Management (SAC) or the army junta from April 2 to 22 following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit the nation on March 28. The ceasefire has been prolonged to April 30.
The earthquake’s epicentre was recorded simply 16km northwest of Mandalay, the second-largest metropolis in Myanmar, and it struck simply earlier than 1pm native time. Greater than 3,000 individuals died and assist teams report that over 17 million individuals residing in earthquake-affected areas are in pressing want of meals, water, shelter and healthcare.
The nation, which has already been devastated by 4 years of civil warfare, continues to be hit with a number of aftershocks. The SAC, ruling Myanmar since seizing energy from the democratically elected authorities in 2021, declared a short lived pause to combating solely after the primary opposition coalition introduced one – besides within the case of defensive actions.
Bellingcat has geolocated not less than 19 villages broken in army assaults throughout the first 20 days of the ceasefire. Two of them had been recognized from floor reporting. Three further villages had been broken after the earthquake however earlier than the ceasefire – bringing the whole to 22 villages.
The airstrikes focused civilian areas in territory held by insurgent forces and territory the place the junta is combating to regain management. The villages broken after the ceasefire had been geolocated by cross-referencing our findings with NASA FIRMS or satellite tv for pc imagery alongside native and different media sources.
Villages bombed because the earthquake on March 28; the epicentre is marked in black, yellow and purple
“It’s fairly clear that solely the army can do airstrikes. The rebels don’t have aircrafts,” Aye Chan Naing, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), certainly one of Myanmar’s largest impartial media organisations, informed Bellingcat.
Missing jets or fighter planes, resistance teams closely depend on business drones “improvised into form of army use,” Naing stated.
Focusing on and scaring civilians is a part of the army’s technique, he defined. “In the event you help the rebels, then you already know we [the military] are going to burn the village.”
“At a second when the only focus must be on guaranteeing humanitarian assist will get to catastrophe zones, the army is as an alternative launching assaults,” stated UN Human Rights Workplace spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on April 11.
“Because the earthquake, army forces have reportedly carried out over 120 assaults – greater than half of them after their declared ceasefire was attributable to have gone into impact on 2 April,” she informed journalists.
In accordance with native media reviews, the Myanmar army carried out an aerial assault simply hours after the earthquake struck. Anti-junta armed group TNLA claimed that the army bombed Nawng Len village, roughly 120km from the earthquake’s epicentre within the japanese Shan State. Seven members of a TNLA-aligned ethnic armed organisation (EAO) had been reportedly killed within the assault.
We weren’t capable of independently affirm the airstrike, however we had been capable of geolocate photographs of a number of broken buildings, to a location within the north of the village. The intact buildings might be seen on Google Earth imagery in late January.
The army junta didn’t reply to Bellingcat’s request for remark.
Assaults in Worst-Affected Earthquake Areas
Out of the 22 villages we recognized, 14 of them are in both Sagaing or Mandalay, which had been a number of the worst affected areas by the earthquake. Giant components of each areas are situated in central Myanmar, the place a number of townships are both contested or underneath junta management.
The army tries to chop the rebels’ survival pipeline, Naing informed Bellingcat.
“They perceive that the rebels can not survive with out civilians as a result of that’s the place they get meals and possibly tax cash,” he stated.
Because the rebels don’t have everlasting bases, members are troublesome to find. Whereas drones would possibly strike and kill just a few people, it’s a lot simpler for the military to establish and goal areas the place civilians reside, Naing added.
On April 9, twenty individuals had been reportedly killed in an airstrike in Nan Khan in Sagaing’s Wuntho Township. We had been capable of geolocate photographs of broken buildings to the coordinates 23.9983922,95.8881422.
Simply days earlier than this assault, on April 6, Thone Pan Hla in Chaung-U Township was reportedly attacked in an airstrike, killing three members of a household. “The motivation for such an assault on a village of melon farmers is obscure. It appears to be an effort to terrorise a civilian inhabitants that strongly helps the anti-regime Nationwide Unity Authorities (NUG) and its armed insurgent PDF wing,” reported The Occasions newspaper. NUG is the nation’s parallel authorities in exile, elected democratically and ousted within the 2021 coup.
About 25km northeast of Thone Pan Hla is the village of Ngar Shan additionally in Chaung-U Township. Native information shops reported that the village was burned down by the junta, simply days after the earthquake. Whereas we weren’t capable of geolocate particular photographs or independently affirm the reason for the hearth, thermal hotspots had been detected on the website on March 31. This traces up with the timeline and reviews of 170 homes being burned in Ngar Shan on April 1 native time.
Photos of the destruction shared on Fb present the village in ruins. Nevertheless, NASA’s Hearth Data for Useful resource Administration System, FIRMS, detects thermal hotspots in the whole village within the early hours of that day.
A false-colour infrared map from Sentinel Hub’s Copernicus platform additionally reveals indicators of destruction within the village. Although generally used to evaluate vegetation well being, this kind of imagery exhibits plant-covered areas in deep purple, whereas cities and uncovered floor are gray or tan, and water seems blue or black. Following the assault, uncovered floor, indicative of potential harm, might be seen primarily within the northwest of the village.
Chaung-U Township is situated within the southern Sagaing area, the place the geography poses challenges for resistance armies.
“In contrast to ethnic resistance teams alongside Myanmar’s borders, or these in northern Sagaing close to India, the resistance forces in southern Sagaing shouldn’t have international borders throughout which they will try to retreat,” wrote Centre for Data Resilience’s Myanmar Witness in a December 2024 report.
Sagaing stays an epicentre for violence with a powerful resistance presence because of the area’s strategic significance. A state of emergency was declared within the state following the quake.
Repeated Bombings in Misplaced Territories
One other area of strategic significance is Mandalay the place the Central Army Command is situated within the Mandalay Palace, reported to have been broken within the earthquake. Mandalay can also be a logistical hub in Myanmar’s heartland, and since late final yr, the SAC has been making an attempt to retake townships it has misplaced there.
Two of these townships are Thabeikkyin and Singu. Each had been attacked throughout the ceasefire.
On April 19, the Myanmar army reportedly carried out an airstrike on the village of Yae Htwet in Thabeikkyin Township. The assault killed not less than 27 individuals, in keeping with the BBC. The report added that pro-military Telegram channels claimed the assault focused PDF camps, the armed wing of the anti-regime Nationwide Unity Authorities.
Only a day earlier, 13 individuals had been reportedly killed in an assault on Leik Kya village, situated 3km north of Yae Htwet.
A separate aerial assault was reportedly carried out over a village in Thabeikkyin, killing two individuals. It happened on April 13 in Chaung Gyi alongside the freeway working by way of the village. We had been capable of establish distinct options of the roof of buildings throughout the road from the assault and, together with the placement of timber, match satellite tv for pc photographs of the world.
Bellingcat additionally geolocated a college (right here: 22.689505, 96.016978) in Singu Township, the location of a reported airstrike in Kyi Tauk Pau village that injured six individuals.
Destruction of Colleges and Spiritual Websites
The junta has a observe file of concentrating on faculties. In accordance with a tally by Radio Free Asia final November, practically 200 faculties had been hit by airstrikes because the 2021 army coup in areas and states which have seen combating by resistance forces opposing junta rule.
A college in Sagaing’s Shwebo Township was reportedly bombed throughout the ceasefire on April 20, killing two individuals, together with a pregnant girl. In accordance with DVB, Shwebo Township Individuals’s Administration, an area anti-junta governance physique, stated displaced individuals had been taking shelter within the college.
Bellingcat discovered 4 faculties and 7 spiritual websites – monasteries and church buildings – broken in current assaults.
Peter Bouckaert of the human rights and advocacy group Fortify Rights known as the assaults on church buildings and monasteries that may very well be internet hosting individuals displaced by the earthquake “an amazing violation of the legal guidelines of warfare”.
“These are protected websites underneath worldwide humanitarian regulation. They’re direct deliberate assaults on these protected establishments,” he informed Bellingcat.
The junta has a historical past of attacking spiritual websites. In the course of the ceasefire, a Baptist church was bombed in Mindat within the neighbouring Chin State, the place a number of armed opposition teams have emerged since 2021. Whereas there have been no reported casualties on the church, six individuals had been killed within the assault in town.
Mindat was taken over by resistance forces final yr amid reviews of a whole lot of houses destroyed by alleged junta shelling, arson, and airstrikes. Lots of this harm is now seen on Google Maps’ up to date imagery from January 2025.
A number of church buildings in Chin State have been broken up to now few years, Myanmar Witness had present in 2023. It’s the solely Christian-majority state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Battle for Management of City Rages Amid Ceasefire
Indaw is a small city near the border with Kachin, a state partly managed by the Kachin Independence Military (KIA)-led resistance forces. Indaw was reportedly bombed on April 1 when it was nonetheless underneath the junta’s management. In accordance with native accounts, two individuals had been killed and eight others injured. A monastery was broken within the assault. We had been capable of geolocate the photographs of the aftermath by evaluating previous footage and satellite tv for pc photographs of the monastery with buildings nonetheless standing after the current assault.
The destruction on April 1 was simply one of many many assaults the city has witnessed since resistance forces launched an offensive in August final yr. The junta’s reported airstrikes in opposition to the resistance displaced a whole lot of individuals, and plenty of others fled.
Regardless of the ceasefire, on April 8, resistance forces captured Indaw after months of combating. Nevertheless, the junta has continued to hold out airstrikes in civilian areas, in keeping with reviews. As Richard Horsey, Senior Adviser on Myanmar at Disaster Group, beforehand informed Bellingcat, the junta typically bombs areas it has misplaced so individuals don’t have anything left to return to.
Photos present that giant components of Indaw had been destroyed final yr. Supply: Google Earth Professional Imagery
Assaults Throughout Burmese New 12 months
The army regime reportedly carried out airstrikes on monasteries over the four-day Thingyan or Burmese New 12 months pageant from April 13 to 16. In accordance with knowledge compiled by an impartial information website, The Irrawaddy, not less than 23 civilians had been killed in these assaults.
In one of many monastery assaults, six individuals had been reportedly killed and 20 others injured. Bellingcat geolocated the aftermath of the reported strike. This was in Kan Ni village in Kawkareik Township in Kayin, one of many southernmost states of the nation.
Regardless of Widespread Violations, Junta Extends Ceasefire
The Myanmar army has now prolonged the ceasefire to April 30 in a transfer to “expedite aid and rebuilding efforts”, however reviews say that assist is being restricted. “The SAC is weaponising humanitarian help,” Surachanee Sriyai, interim director on the Middle for Sustainable Humanitarian Motion to Displaced Ethnic Communities, informed Bellingcat, explaining that assist will not be reaching areas that aren’t underneath the SAC’s management. An evaluation by the BBC in November final yr reported that the army solely has full management of 21% of Myanmar’s territory.
Sriyai famous that whereas the earthquake has drawn some consideration to Myanmar, the nation has already been in essential want of assist because of the extended armed battle. In the meantime, bombings persist even throughout the prolonged ceasefire interval.
Members of Bellingcat’s World Authentication Mission, together with Afton Knox, Nicole Kiess, Stéphanie Ladel, and Max F. Wan contributed analysis to this piece.
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