UN Reports at Least 702 Civilian Deaths in Myanmar Fighting Between August and January

Myanmar's military killed at least 702 civilians between August and January, the UN Human Rights Office said. The verified deaths included 224 women and 153 children. Sagaing region accounted for 191 of the deaths, among them 60 women and 30 children.

Air strikes remained the single largest cause of destruction and suffering, the office reported. In October, munitions struck civilians gathered in front of a school in Chaung-U, Sagaing, killing 23 people including four children and wounding more than 60 others.

The victims had assembled for a candlelit event marking the end of Buddhist Lent, calling for the release of political prisoners, opposing military conscription and rejecting military elections.

In December, a military aeroplane bombed a tea shop in Tabayin, Sagaing, during a gathering to watch a football match, killing at least 19 people and wounding 20 others. Rohingya people faced forced recruitment by the Arakan Army along with killings, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence. Min Aung Hlaing, who launched the 2021 military coup, became president in April.

The military announced elections covering the August-to-January period, though main opposition parties were excluded and large areas of the country could not participate because of the civil war. The military's own party, the USDP, won nearly 80 percent of the remaining seats after the armed forces were guaranteed one quarter of the seats.

"As if the people of Myanmar have not suffered enough at the hands of the military, they have now seemingly been forgotten by those outside the country," UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said.