Churches, temples and monasteries regularly hit by airstrikes in Myanmar, activists say

BANGKOK (AP) — A study issued Tuesday by researchers collecting evidence of war crimes in Myanmar supported reports that air strikes by the military government damaged churches in the Buddhist-dominated country’s sole Christian-majority state.

The 10 reported attacks on churches in the western state of Chin examined by the researchers are part of a broader assault on religious communities across the war-torn nation, other religious and human rights workers said.

Myanmar sank into civil war after the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Since then, resistance fighters from the Buddhist Burman ethnic majority have joined forces with long-oppressed ethnic minorities, some with substantial Christian populations.

Human rights agencies and United Nations investigators have found evidence that security forces indiscriminately and disproportionately targeted civilians with bombs, mass executions of people detained during operations and large-scale burning of civilian houses.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tallies political arrests and attacks, at least 4,416 people have been killed by security forces since the 2021 takeover.

Tuesday’s report, compiled by the Myanmar Witness project of the United Kingdom-based Centre for Information Resilience, analyzed in depth five claims of airstrikes causing major physical damage to churches in Chin state over several months in 2023 and concluded that all five could be verified.

Religious buildings are accorded special protected status under international law.

At least 107 religious buildings — including 67 churches and five Buddhist monasteries — have been destroyed by the military since the 2021 takeover