Myanmar military escalates air attacks on civilians, 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.

Myanmar's ruling junta seized power in a February 1, 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. 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.

IIMM chief Nicholas Koumjian said communities in Myanmar were living under the 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.