Seventeen civilians killed by airstrikes in Rakhine State
A total of 17 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 14 were injured by airstrikes in Yoengu village of Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, carried out by the Burma Air Force on Tuesday, according to the Arakan Army (AA). Ponnagyun, located 21 miles (33 km) northeast of the Arakan State capital Sittwe, was seized by the AA in March 2024.
A Ponnagyun resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the number of civilians killed might increase as some of the injured are in critical condition at the hospital. “We are trying to find out the names of the victims,” he added. At least five homes in Yoengu village were destroyed by fire caused by the airstrikes, according to residents.
Ponnagyun residents displaced from their homes due to fighting between regime forces and the AA since 2023 have been living at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp located in Yoengu village. The AA warned residents in 14 of 17 Arakan townships under its control, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, to remain alert for regime airstrikes.
Another nine die after paramotor attack in Sagaing Region
Nine civilians, including two children, were killed and five others were injured by a paramotor attack carried out on Shwekyaungkan village of Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region, from the regime’s Northwestern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters in the region’s capital Monywa on Monday. Myinmu, located 36 miles (58 km) east of Monywa, is partly under People’s Defence Force (PDF) control.
One Myinmu resident said that two paramotors dropped three bombs on one location where residents were using a Starlink device to access the internet. “The military has repeatedly used paramotors and gyrocopters to bomb peaceful gatherings and protected civilian sites—schools, hospitals, monasteries, and houses—across Myanmar’s central lowlands,” according to a Fortify Rights report on Jan. 26.
Residents in Sagaing’s Homalin Township, 331-362 miles (533-582 km) north of Monywa and Myinmu, told DVB that at least seven civilians were killed and an unknown number were injured in Paenwegone village during a gyrocopter attack carried out from the Homalan Air Force Base on Feb. 21. At least 549 people have been killed in 536 aerial attacks in Sagaing Region since March 28, according to DVB data.
Regime advances toward last town held by PDF in Mandalay
Residents of Tagaung town in Mandalay Region’s Thabeikkyin Township told DVB that a regime counteroffensive reached Pauktapin village, 20 miles (32 km) south of Tagaung, on Monday. Tagaung, located 131 miles (210 km) north of the region’s capital Mandalay, was seized by the PDF under the command of the National Unity Government (NUG) in August 2024.
A Thabeikkyin resident told DVB that a regime column left town heading toward Tagaung on Feb. 6. Zin Yaw, a military defector who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 military coup, told DVB that the regime’s Central RMC in Mandalay is making plans to recapture Tagaung, which is the remaining PDF stronghold in Mandalay Region, by the end of February.
Thabeikkyin, located 54 miles (87 km) south of Tagaung, was recaptured by regime forces on July 23. Zin Yaw added that if regime forces recapture Tagaung, they may continue their counteroffensive against PDF-controlled areas in Sagaing Region’s Tigyaing and Indaw towns, 30-72 miles (48-115 km) north of Tagaung. DVB contacted the PDF in Tagaung for comment, but they declined our interview request.
News by Region
KARENNI—David Eubank, the director of Free Burma Rangers, told DVB that $1.68 million USD had been provided in aid from the U.S. to the 350,000 displaced from their homes since the 2021 military coup. He made an appeal for the resumption of aid during a visit to the U.S. in October.
“It was spent on water, food, medicine, $25 [USD] a month for a teacher. It was very well spent. That money that actually made it here was crucial. And it’s a big loss,” Eubank told DVB, referring to U.S. funding to Burma that ended last year after the Trump administration’s shut down of USAID.
NAYPYIDAW—The regime announced on Monday that both houses of parliament will convene in the capital on March 16 and 18. State and regional parliaments will convene in their respective capitals on March 20. The military elections ended on Jan. 25. Polls were held in 263 of Burma’s 330 townships.
The regime instructed lawmakers elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw to arrive by March 11 and to the Amyotha Hluttaw by March 13. State and regional lawmakers are required to arrive in their capitals by March 15. The military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won a total of 339 seats in both houses of parliament. Read more
YANGON—The air pollution level in Yangon was ranked the fourth worst in the world on Monday, according to the Swiss air quality technology and monitoring company IQAir. Yangon’s air quality index (AQI) reached 192 on Feb. 23, which is considered an “unhealthy” level.
An AQI of 101 to 150 is considered unhealthy for vulnerable people, while 151 to 200 is considered unhealthy, and 201 to 300 is considered harmful. An AQI level of over 301 is regarded as dangerous to health. IQAir suggests Yangon residents to wear masks and avoid outdoor activities.
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Swedish author Bertil Lintner signs copies of his new book ‘Young Tigers: Chao Tzang Yawnghwe and the Shan Rebellion in Myanmar’ at Chiang Mai University (CMU) on Feb. 24.
