Myanmar topped the global list of casualties from landmines last year, HRW said in a report released on Nov. 21.

The country had a total of 1,003 documented civilian deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants of war in 2023, almost three times the previous year, the HRW report said.

The casualties resulted as fighting between the junta military and alliances of opposition and ethnic armed groups spiked nationwide last year, it said.

Landmine casualties and contamination have been documented for the first time in all 14 Myanmar states and regions, affecting about 60 percent of the country's townships, it added.

Read More

Junta soldiers and the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia attacked a village in Monywa township on Saturday morning. Roughly 80 soldiers stationed nearby stormed Kya Paing village and began torching houses, causing locals to flee, Kya Paing residents said.

On Saturday evening, villagers returned to the area and found the bodies of 18 people badly burned near Kya Paing, a member of Monywa township defence forces said.

"We are now cleaning up the fire debris in the village," he said, declining to be named for security reasons. "The bodies are deformed, and only the bones remain. We're still cleaning, and I am praying that we will not find another body again. Up to 170 or 180 houses were burned."

Read More

More than 4,000 refugees, most of them Catholics, have entered the Thailand border areas and are "knocking at our front doors, seeking refuge," said Bishop Francis Xavier Vira Arporndratana of Chiang Mai diocese on June 22.

They were provided humanitarian assistance by Chettha Mosikkharat, governor of Mae Hong Son province along with his deputy, officials, and the Red Cross, besides survival kits donated by local people, the Bangkok Post reported.

Chettha said that as director of the Thai-Myanmar border administration centre, he had updated state agencies on the situation.

He reportedly added that Thailand will remain neutral in the conflict, but officials and security agencies will provide humanitarian aid to the refugees.

Read More

The new flare-up between the army and the rebel groups, which also includes Christians, has prompted thousands of villagers in Demoso township in predominantly Christian Kayah State, a mountainous eastern region bordering Thailand, to take shelter in relatives' homes and in forests, according to local sources.

They said at least 3,000 people have fled their homes since March 10 when the fighting increased.

"We heard artillery shelling and gunfire and saw many fleeing villagers taking refuge in relatives' homes," a local resident from Loikaw, the capital city of Kayah State, who did not wish to be named, told UCA News.

Read More

Michelle Bachelet told the United Nations Human Rights Council that time was running out for other countries to step up efforts to restore democracy and prevent a broader conflict.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi's government was ousted by the military in February, sparking a nationwide uprising that the junta has tried to crush.

Attacks on troops have increased since lawmakers ousted by the generals called for a "people's defensive war" earlier this month.

Read More