The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said that children across Myanmar, including in Chin State, continue to suffer from the junta’s airstrikes.
It has been one year since the Oehteinkwin Village school airstrike in Sagaing Region’s Yinmabin Township, which killed more than 20 students, yet children across the country continue to endure similar brutal airstrikes by the junta, the IIMM said on May 12. The airstrike on the school in Oehteinkwin Village occurred on the morning of May 12, 2025.
Earlier this month, at least five children aged between five months and 10 years were killed in a junta airstrike on a children’s playground in a village in Chin State, IIMM added. That refers to the May 1 incident, when the junta carried out a bombing strike on Khawpuichhip Village in Chin State’s Falam Township. The latest updated casualty list reported that six children and one adult were killed.
IIMM said that airstrikes which indiscriminately target or attack civilians violate international law.
“The Mechanism is focusing on air strikes that appear to directly target civilians in locations where children are likely to be present, which may be war crimes or crimes against humanity. We are collecting and analysing the evidence, including the composition of the Myanmar Air Force and its chain of command, to identify the perpetrators involved so that they can be held to account,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of IIMM.
This airstrike on Khawpuichhip Village came after a series of nationwide airstrikes over the past year that have killed and injured children, including attacks in Mandalay, Bago, and Rakhine State (March and April 2026); a church in Tanintharyi Region (March 2026); two schools in Rakhine State (September 2025); and a monastery sheltering internally displaced people in Sagaing Region (July 2025), according to IIMM.
Based on the available data, which is likely an underestimate, children were killed or injured in at least 640 airstrikes between the military takeover in February 2021 and 2025. Even for children who have not personally experienced an attack, the danger and stress from the risk are having a deep and lasting impact on them, IIMM has warned.
“Attacks on children are particularly heinous. Children in Myanmar should be able to sleep, study and play without fear,” said Koumjian.
IIMM urged anyone with first-hand information about air attacks to make contact securely via Signal at +41 76 691 12 08 with disappearing messages enabled, or to email [email protected] from a Proton Mail account, which is free to set up.
The IIMM was created by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and other violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011.
It aims to facilitate justice and accountability by preserving and organizing this evidence and preparing analyses that authorities can use to prosecute individuals in national, regional, and international courts.
