The exiled National Unity Government’s (NUG) Ministry of Defence said 268 airstrikes were carried out in all of Myanmar’s states and regions except for Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions, in the year to 30 September 2022.

According to an NUG statement, from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022 the junta carried out 268 airstrikes in seven states and five regions, resulting in the deaths of 155 civilians, including seven minors.

The airstrikes also displaced 8,100 people and destroyed 138 houses.

The areas with most airstrikes were Kachin, Kareni, Karen and Chin States, and Sagaing Region. In these areas there is already a lot of fighting on the ground and the junta is forced to use airstrikes to back up its ground troops, which would otherwise be forced to retreat, according to the NUG statement.

Captain Zin Yaw, an army captain who is part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) said: “90 percent of the military council's troops would be lost if there were no airstrikes.”

Myanmar is divided into seven regions: Yangon, Ayeyarwady, Mandalay, Bago, Sagaing, Magwe and Tanintharyi regions; seven states: Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Rakhine and Shan states; one union territory: Naypyidaw Union Territory; five self-administered zones: Danu, Kokang, Naga, Pa Laung, and Pa’O Self-Administered Zones; and one self-administered division: the Wa Self-Administered Division.