Myanmar civil war: 4 years on, drone killings & abduction of civilians still rising as military faces setbacks

It has been a little over four years since the attempted coup in Myanmar that ignited the civil war.

Despite a long and arduous fight, the political situation in the country remains tense. The military, commanded by Myanmar’s ruling junta leaders, and several opposition fighter groups are locked in a protracted violent struggle, wrestling for control of greater territory.

No negotiation space in sight between these opposing parties.

As the fight drags on, so do the indiscriminate attacks on civilians from either side.

From aerial bombings to abductions, around 90 per cent of Myanmar’s population has been exposed to political violence, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data’s (ACLED) Conflict Exposure metrics.

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Data backs up the rising brutality of the war, and the toll on civilians.

Military’s increasing attacks on civilians

An analysis by Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) showed that from January 2021 through 10 May 2024, the war in Myanmar has killed more people – 52,720 – than any other armed conflict in the world during that time.

Take a look at this graph that shows harm caused by the military to civilians.

The number of mass killings via airstrikes, drone attacks, shelling, missile attacks, and through landmines and IEDs has been on the rise.

“In 2023, there were 253 military airstrike events targeting civilians, which more than tripled to 776 strike events in 2024– the equivalent of more than two per day,” ACLED said in its latest report on Myanmar.

The only decrease has been in civilian targeting through attacks such as shooting, torturing, and individual executions of people who participated in the anti-coup movement.

Even after the decrease, these attacks have remained at heightened levels.

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Those trends put together point to a shift in the tactics the military is using in the face of mounting challenges on the ground. To maximise its capability to strike fear while minimising casualties, the Myanmarese armed forces have resorted to remote violence through airstrikes, while at the same time ramping up abductions and forced recruitment.

Abductions and forced disappearances

Suffering because of dwindling troops, in February last year, the military started enforcing its conscription law. That in turn resulted in the increased abduction of young people.

In December 2024, the number of abduction events reached a record high, with 170 incidents reported.

This coincided with the major setbacks the forces had faced in the volatile Rakhine state. Some of these abductions involved the kidnapping of hundreds of people at once.

To a much smaller degree, other armed actors also abducted civilians in 2024 for forced recruitment or as forced labour.

The ethnic minorities have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government and are loosely allied with the People’s Defense Force, the pro-democracy armed resistance formed after the army’s 2021 takeover.

The UN Human Rights Office and rights groups including Amnesty International also made rare allegations in recent statements that armed groups opposing the military have also committed human rights violations in areas under their control.

The brunt on 6 million children

The brunt on the children in Myanmar has also been quite heavy. On Tuesday (February 4), Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations, in a statement revealed that 6 million children have been living in the worst humanitarian settings. Of the 3.5 million internally displaced persons, 33 per cent are children.

Many individuals have died, become orphaned, or sustained disabilities due to the repeated launch of indiscriminate airstrikes, which have killed and maimed children by the military junta and its affiliates.

With inputs from agencies