Over the last month, junta warplanes have pummeled villages across Karenni State in southeastern Myanmar, turning the skies into a constant threat for those trapped below. The escalation of attacks by the military junta has taken a serious toll on civilian communities.
Just a few days ago, a local mining town in Hpasawng township was absolutely devastated by junta aerial attacks. On August 17, at least 32 people were killed in Mawchi, a large village combined with several other wards and villages under resistance control, when a junta fighter jet targeted a residential area. The attack on the mining settlement was the single deadliest airstrike to hit Karenni State since the 2021 coup, and remains one of the worst aerial strikes since the start of the war.
What made this brazen attack on civilians even more shocking was that it came at a time when there were no active fighting or military operations on the ground. The junta recently retook some areas and wards of Demoso, but others remain under the control of the resistance. These assaults have now become commonplace for the junta, which is dropping bombs on civilians even when armed groups are nowhere to be found.
During the Mawchi attack, the sound of the junta fighter ripped through the sky before it unleashed its two 500-pound bomb payload, dropping them onto a crowded neighborhood. The blast also damaged a nearby hospital. Locals on the ground say the catastrophic attack will go down in history as one of the worst deliberate attacks on unarmed civilians of the war.
These escalations of air raids are far from isolated incidents.
Over the last two months, the junta has unleashed near-daily airstrikes on Hpasawng Township. Turmoil deepened as the junta launched fresh airstrikes on August 19, hitting Kyaung Kyar Ward and Lo Khar Lo village in Mawchi, leaving four men critically injured.
After back-to-back attacks, the junta then looked to the township of Demoso. A day later, the military then targeted civilian villages from the air, leaving a 25-year-old man dead, while a 35-year-old man and an 18-year-old girl were injured.
The Karenni Human Rights Group, a grassroots, independent Karenni-led rights group, has strongly criticized these attacks. The group has called for targeted sanctions on aviation fuel and a global arms embargo. The Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC), a civilian authority formed by resistance groups to oversee local governance, has also condemned the attacks.
In July, the IEC released information about the war crimes committed by the junta in Karenni State since the beginning of the year. As of July 9, junta airstrikes had killed 33 people and injured 94 others so far in 2025, including 15 men, nine women, two children, and seven unidentified victims. But the latest air raid in Mawchi marks the eleventh on the settlement this year, with strikes escalating since June.
The rising impact and frequency of these attacks are highly concerning, as there appears to be no end in sight to the growing scale of the airstrikes against civilian targets. The human toll caused by the military regime has resulted in widespread displacement. At least 80 percent of the Karenni population has been displaced in the last four years, according to the IEC.
As conflict intensifies across the state, women and children are among those most in need of safety, shelter, and security, often fleeing into neighboring states or across the border into Thailand. With no safe place to call home, the toll on their physical and mental well-being continues to increase.
Despite renewed calls for peace by regional states and global actors, there is little clarity on tangible, meaningful support other than statements of concern. At the same time, ASEAN and other foreign governments should be cautious to avoid legitimizing the regime by supporting its sham elections and even lifting sanctions on allies of the junta.
The lack of moral authority shown by the international community is troubling. And the situation has been made worse as the Trump administration in the United States has dramatically reduced funding, cutting life-saving programs for refugees and displaced communities.
Regional and international actors should immediately refer the situation on human rights to the International Criminal Court. The Myanmar military has avoided accountability for far too long. And without immediate action, the generals responsible for ordering the war crimes and atrocities will continue with impunity.
As the international community continues to stagger its response, the junta continues to commit depraved and senseless acts of violence, breaking international laws. Without meaningful intervention, which involves consulting leading rights groups on the ground, many more lives will be lost.
