Mizzima-Sept 17
A total of 214 children were killed or injured during the military junta’s sham election period, according to a statement released 15 September by Myanmar Witness. The data was featured in a Myanmar Witness report titled “Child Casualties During the Military-Led Election Period,” which compiled and documented incidents before, during, and after the election period. Myanmar Witness collected and documented data spanning from the pre-election phase, starting 28 September 2025, to the post-election phase, ending 25 April 2026. Celia Powell, Editor & Investigations Manager at Myanmar Witness, a project under the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), told Mizzima: “We hope this report will help foster a deeper understanding of the conflict’s impact on children in Myanmar, and highlight why it is so crucial to document these events at a time like this.” According to the report, child casualties occurred across the different phases as follows: in the pre-election period, 37 were killed and 73 injured across 41 incidents; during the election period, 13 were killed and 12 injured across 17 incidents; and in the post-election period, 33 were killed and 44 injured across 38 incidents. The report found that airstrikes were the primary cause of casualties, occurring nearly five times more frequently than heavy artillery shelling, the second most common cause. Children were killed or injured in 61 attacks carried out by the junta’s air force and 29 attacks conducted by the junta’s army. Sagaing Region suffered the highest number of attacks leading to child casualties, with 23 recorded incidents, followed by Rakhine State with 13. Mandalay Region and Shan State recorded the third-highest toll, with 12 incidents each. The junta targeted civilian homes, villages, schools, educational facilities, religious buildings, and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Read more at:
