Myanmar air attacks on civilians escalate, UN says

Myanmar's military has escalated aerial attacks on civilians, United Nations investigators said in an annual report covering July 2025 to June 2026.

The United Nations' Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar said the military stepped up attacks and other alleged crimes against civilians before elections completed in January, and that the strikes had continued since then.

The IIMM said it documented a pattern of deliberate aerial attacks on civilians, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence by the Myanmar military. It also said the frequency and intensity of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by the military and various armed groups had continued to rise.

According to the mechanism, aerial attacks targeted homes, schools, medical facilities, religious buildings and camps for internally displaced people, causing deaths, injuries and destruction. It said the military's increasing use of paramotors and drones made attacks harder for civilians to detect.

The IIMM said conflict in Rakhine State, where the military is fighting the Arakan Army, intensified significantly during the reporting period, while conflicts between the military regime and armed groups across Myanmar showed no sign of easing.

The mechanism said it had collected and analysed evidence of arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence in military-run detention facilities, including cases linked to a 2025 law criminalising criticism of the elections. It said numerous people had been arrested under the law and could face up to 20 years in prison and the death penalty for activities including critical social media posts.

Myanmar's ruling junta seized power in a February 1, 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. The elections held under the junta were deeply restricted and delivered a win for its allies in civilian politics.

The IIMM was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect evidence of serious international crimes and prepare files for criminal prosecution. It said it had collected and processed more than 28 million items of information and evidence from more than 1,600 sources.

IIMM chief Nicholas Koumjian said communities in Myanmar were living under the constant threat of violence and coping with lasting harm. The mechanism said funding cuts were reducing its resources and capacity as alleged serious international crimes intensified.

The Gambia has brought a civil case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention during 2016 and 2017 clearance operations against the Rohingya minority. The IIMM said it had provided extensive evidence in those proceedings.

Koumjian said investigators were looking at whether people outside Myanmar who are fuelling the conflict by providing weapons and materials could be prosecuted for violating sanctions or money laundering laws. He said the Myanmar military had never cooperated with the investigators' requests for information.