Myanmar Witness report details devastating toll of military airstrikes on children

Independent investigative group Myanmar Witness released a report on Tuesday documenting severe child casualties resulting from military regime operations across 12 states and regions. Covering the period from Sept. 28, 2025, to April 25, 2026—which spanned the period surrounding the regime’s 2025-26 elections—the report verified that 85 children were killed and 129 others were injured across 96 documented incidents. The findings identified aerial bombardments carried out by the Myanmar Air Force as the single largest driver of child casualties. Airstrikes accounted for 61 of the recorded incidents, representing 63.5 per cent of the total. Heavy artillery shelling was the second most frequent cause of casualties, comprising 12 incidents (12.5 per cent), followed by drone strikes with eight incidents (8.3 per cent), landmines with six (6.3 per cent), and paramotor or gyrocopter attacks with five (5.2 per cent). Geographically, Sagaing Region suffered the heaviest toll, recording 23 separate incidents. Myanmar Witness highlighted that the continued pattern of child fatalities occurring inside residential homes, educational facilities, and religious buildings demonstrates the pervasive danger civilians face in daily life. The report aligns with earlier findings from the U.N. Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which reported on Aug. 11 that the military escalated aerial attacks against civilian zones ahead of the election cycle. In response, the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that its military forces conduct airstrikes strictly against legitimate military targets to counter territorial gains by resistance groups. The release of the report comes alongside updated figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which reported on Sept. 14 that at least 1,110 children have been killed and 641 minors have been arrested by regime forces since the 2021 military coup. At least 2,724 people have been killed and 5,398 people have been injured in 3,967 aerial attacks, which includes airstrikes, drone, paramotor and gyrocopter attacks, since March 28, 2025, according to DVB data. The post Myanmar Witness report details devastating toll of military airstrikes on children appeared first on DVB.