Myanmar Junta Bombs Civilians During Ceasefire, Hits Earthquake Zones

The Myanmar military junta has continued to launch deadly airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including religious structures sheltering people displaced by the recent earthquake, despite declaring two temporary ceasefires that began on April 2 and ended April 30, 2025, said Fortify Rights today. The U.N. Security Council should immediately impose an embargo on aviation fuel and weapons to the Myanmar military junta to prevent further attacks on civilians, and it should ensure unfettered humanitarian aid for all in need.

“The Myanmar junta’s so-called ceasefire is a sham,” said Sai Arkar, Human Rights Associate at Fortify Rights. “Since April 2, the military junta has intensified its deadly airstrikes, including in earthquake-hit areas, killing civilians, even children. These attacks show blatant disregard for human life and international law.”

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28 reportedly killed more than 3,700 people, flattened communities, and destroyed infrastructure throughout Myanmar, particularly in Mandalay and Sagaing regions. After opening fire on a Chinese aid convoy on April 1, the military junta said it would observe a temporary ceasefire to facilitate earthquake-related humanitarian aid.

After four years of nationwide armed conflict, there are more than 3.5 million internally displaced people in Myanmar, and tens of millions are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

In April 2025, Fortify Rights spoke with nine individuals—four civilians and five members of resistance organizations—who survived, witnessed, or observed the aftermath of airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar junta since the earthquake.

On April 19, 2025, at approximately 1:10 p.m., the Myanmar military junta conducted an aerial attack on Yae Htwet village in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region, following the Thingyan Water Festival—a significant cultural event and new year celebration. The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) said the attack involved two large air-dropped bombs, resulting in the deaths of at least 32 individuals, including women and children.

A member of a People's Defence Force (PDF) unit who participated in rescue efforts in Yae Htwet village, extinguishing fires and searching for the deceased, told Fortify Rights: “Upon our arrival at the scene, we recovered approximately ten bodies. Several were unidentifiable due to the extent of the injuries, with many others dismembered, necessitating the collection of human remains.” He said rescue operations took place on April 19 and 20, 2025, and that at least 45 civilians sustained injuries as a result of the attack. Fortify Rights is unaware of any legitimate military targets in Yae Htwet village.

In Sagaing Region, which was an earthquake-affected area, the Myanmar junta carried out numerous airstrikes, including in Tabayin, Shwebo, and Kani townships. On April 23, 2025, just one day after the junta announced an eight-day extension to the 20-day ceasefire, a resident of Let Hloke village in Tabayin Township in Sagaing Region told Fortify Rights how a junta airstrike hit his village after 10:30 a.m., killing five people, including a 13-year-old child. He said: “A [junta] aircraft attacked [the village] … without having any military offensives or battles. … Five people died, and five were injured. … Only civilians were affected.”

The same resident identified the victims killed as a 13-year-old girl, Jay Oo; Daw Saung, an 80-year-old woman; Aung Kyaw Kyaw, a 26-year-old man; San Zaw, a 45-year-old man; and Lone, a 40-year-old woman.

A resistance fighter from Kani Township in Sagaing Region told Fortify Rights that between April 8 and 19, approximately 31 aerial attacks occurred, with the highest number recorded on April 14. He said:

[April 14] was Thingyan Ah Kya day [the start of the water festival]. It was the holiday. There were a total of 24 attacks from the sky on this day, and they used five different methods: jet fighter, MI-35, Y12 aircraft, Yellow Cat UAV drone, and paramotor. The attack started at 7:30 in the morning [and] didn’t stop until 10:30 a.m. … It was raining bombs. They didn’t seem to have a specific target, just dropping bombs like rain.

He said the junta attacked five locations on April 14: Tha Min Chan monastery, Mu Htaw village, Nat Gyi village, Su Lay Kone village, and Ta Yaung village. The attacks allegedly killed a Buddhist monk and a 21-year-old woman, injured three novice monks, a nun, and destroyed civilian homes, a monastery, a school building, and a cowshed. He added:

These are all attacks in civilian areas. … The attacks on April 11 and 12 … happened after the clashes [on the ground]. … But the rest of the airstrikes are indiscriminate. They are just dropping bombs without really being sure where they are dropping them. The military really has no presence or control on the ground in Kani Township, so they are displaying that, regardless of what’s happening on the ground, they can still dominate from the sky.

Many of the junta’s airstrikes since the earthquake have struck Buddhist monasteries, Christian churches, and Muslim mosques—areas where civilians have sought shelter after their homes were damaged in the earthquake. For example, in Mandalay Region’s Aidaing village, a military junta airstrike on April 21 hit a monastery sheltering a mobile medical team treating recent earthquake victims. The airstrike reportedly injured six people, including monks and residents.

Junta airstrikes reportedly hit at least three Christian churches in the predominantly Christian Chin State during the Easter week religious period, when large crowds of Christians attend church services. On Palm Sunday, the Myoma Baptist Church in Mindat was bombed and destroyed. A few days earlier, on April 8, Christ the King Catholic Church in Falam was hit by Myanmar junta airstrikes, and an Assembly of God church in Mindat was struck the next day on April 9.

Before Easter, on April 4, 2025, shortly after the ceasefire began, the Myanmar military junta launched an attack with an airstrike and mortars on Piking Kaw Khu village in southern Shan State on the border with Karenni State, killing five civilians.

A witness to the aftermath of the attack shared photographs of the destroyed buildings and dead with Fortify Rights. He said: “On April 4, in the morning, around 9 a.m., mortars hit the village. They were 120mm rounds. It killed one person. … I saw the aftermath and the destroyed buildings.”

The man who died, U Khu Lu, was a 54-year-old village resident.

In the afternoon, around 2 p.m., the same village was hit with an airstrike, killing four civilians. Fortify Rights could not verify all the names of those killed in the airstrike.

A representative from Burma War Crimes Investigation—a human rights group led by Myanmar human rights defenders—who documented the attack on April 4, told Fortify Rights: “We can confirm the junta targeted a civilian area [on April 4]. … This military operation reflects a deliberate strategy by the Myanmar military to target civilians through airstrikes, despite the ceasefire.”

A representative of the Interim Executive Council, the state-level government in Karenni State resisting the military junta, told Fortify Rights: “The junta is still bombing civilian areas [in Karenni and southern Shan states]. Since the ceasefire, the junta has targeted civilian areas and killed at least 15 people. This is unacceptable.”

Fortify Rights also documented numerous attacks by the military junta on PDF's positions throughout Myanmar, some of which resulted in PDF fatalities. However, for military security reasons, the PDF sources interviewed would not disclose locations and dates for those attacks, citing the fear of being targeted for future attacks. Even if those attacks involved legitimate military targets, they would still constitute violations of the junta’s self-declared nationwide ceasefire.

The U.N. Human Rights Office reported that the junta has carried out more than 120 attacks since it announced a “ceasefire” starting on April 2. These attacks reportedly affected at least 51 townships in Myanmar, including areas devastated by the earthquake.

On April 10, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said in a statement:

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, it [the Myanmar junta] has chosen to violate its own ceasefire, launching dozens of new attacks with devastating results. … The Security Council should urgently consider a resolution that demands that all parties to the conflict in Myanmar cease offensive military operations and that the junta immediately end its human rights violations and obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts.

On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military launched a deadly coup d’état , killing untold numbers of civilians and imprisoning tens of thousands of others in a bid to secure nationwide political power. The junta’s attacks against civilians continue and amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, said Fortify Rights.

International humanitarian law—also known as the laws of war—is applicable to the revolution in Myanmar, which constitutes a non-international armed conflict. In particular, the Geneva Conventions set forth fundamental rules regulating armed conflict conduct. Under the laws of war, parties involved in the conflict are required to distinguish between, on the one hand, civilians and “civilian objects” (such as homes and hospitals that are not being used for military purposes) and, on the other hand, combatants and “military objectives.” The laws of war expressly prohibit both direct attacks and indiscriminate attacks that target civilians and civilian objects. Violations of these laws can amount to war crimes, and those responsible may be subject to prosecution.

"The Myanmar junta’s ongoing attacks on civilians during an earthquake disaster are flagrant and lawless," said Sai Arkar. "The international community must act decisively to stop the junta’s access to weapons and aviation fuel before more lives are lost."

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