The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has risen in Myanmar’s southernmost Tanintharyi Region, as the junta intensified airstrikes since July.
A report by FE 5 Tanintharyi, a local research group, found that junta airstrikes more than tripled in July, rising to 25 from just 8 in June.
Aid workers said the rise in IDPs in Tanintharyi Region in July was driven not only by the surge in junta airstrikes but also by ground operations, arrests and killings of civilians, and naval artillery bombardments.
“In July, Tanintharyi Region saw more civilian casualties than in previous months caused by the junta’s attacks. It was also the month when the region experienced the highest number of airstrikes, which is why so many people were displaced,” a local aid worker told KIC.
The total number of IDPs in Tanintharyi Region has now reached 82,800, according to FE 5 Tanintharyi. The report also noted that around 38,300 residents are from Dawei, Launglon, Yebyu, and Thayetchaung townships. In Myeik District, about 44,500 IDPs from Palaw, Tanintharyi, and Kyunsu townships are mostly sheltering in forests, rural areas, orchards, and relatively safer towns.
In Tanintharyi Township alone, clashes between the junta and resistance forces, along with junta bombings that displaced entire villages, have forced a total of 19,500 residents to flee.
