UN says Myanmar's military killed more than 700 civilians around its elections
A new UN human rights report says credible sources have verified at least 702 civilian deaths attributable to Myanmar’s military between last August — when the junta announced it would hold elections — and the close of voting at the end of January, the BBC reported on June 22 . Among the dead were 224 women and 153 children.
Air power was the dominant cause: 505 of the deaths, or 57 percent, came from attacks using jet fighters, drones, para-motors and gyrocopters. The UN rights office said killings spiked in August–September and again in December, coinciding with the election announcement and with battlefield offensives as the military sought to extend its territorial control.
The findings underscore that the junta’s election, widely dismissed by outside observers as an attempt to entrench military rule five years after the 2021 coup, was accompanied by intensified violence against civilians rather than a return to normal politics.