An estimated 20 military personnel and police officers have been killed by anti-coup resistance forces while collecting data for the regime census this week. The Oct. 1-15 census is underway in order to compile voter lists for regime elections tentatively scheduled for November 2025.

Fifteen soldiers were killed by homemade bombs – en route to collect census data – detonated by the People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Yamethin Township, which is located around 125 miles (201 km) south of Mandalay and 54 miles (87 km) north of the capital Naypyidaw, on Thursday. 

“We detonated explosives in two different locations along their route,” a Yamethin PDF spokesperson told DVB. Three soldiers were killed and three others were injured by the PDF and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), while guarding a census team near the Karen State capital of Hpa-An in southeastern Myanmar, on Oct. 10. 

“They had been conducting the census for two or three days. The [military] vehicle guarding the team was attacked,” a Hpa-An resident told DVB. The military increased security in the township the following day and continued its census data collection. 

Two police officers were killed and four others were injured in a similar attack in Monywa, the Sagaing Region capital in northwest Myanmar. “The officials were heading toward villages to collect census data. We planted five bombs along [their route],” a resistance fighter in Monywa told DVB.

Residents of Meiktila, which is located 86 miles (138 km) south of Mandalay, said that unknown assailants attacked census workers and stole their phones and tablets on the morning of Oct. 8. “It’s worse that the military didn’t even provide proper security for them. Fortunately, there were no major casualties,” a Meiktila resident told DVB.

Four census workers were also arrested by the PDF in Launglon Township, which is also located in southeastern Myanmar, on Oct. 6. Another census worker was detained by resistance groups in Chinland’s Tedim Township in western Myanmar. The military regime denounced the arrests in the townships as “terrorism.”

Pro-democracy activists have called on citizens to boycott the census, warning that it’s an attempt by the regime to gather personal information. Resistance groups have warned that they will take action against anyone who assists the regime to collect census data. The U.N. states that over 3.3 million people have been displaced from their homes. Myanmar’s previous census was conducted in 2014.