People may survive deadly junta airstrikes but their lives can still be ruined when junta bombs destroy houses because they are much more than just buildings to the families who have made them their homes.
“When I saw my house in ruins, completely shattered, I was speechless, overwhelmed by immense pain. The misery was unbearable, and I didn’t want to stay in my village anymore,” said Naung Mu Pali, struggling to hold back her emotions, after her house was destroyed in a junta airstrike on 5 March 2025.
28-year-old Naung Mu Pali lived in Ashun Village, a village of about 300 households and a population of about 1,700 in Kawkareik Township, just south of Kawkareik Town.
Since the February 2021 coup junta aircraft have been bombing civilian targets. On the night of 5 March it was the turn of Ahsun Village when, for no reason, a junta aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the village for the first time, at about 1:30 am.
The crescent moon shone brightly in the clear skies of a peaceful night which was abruptly shattered in Ashun Village at 1:30 am when two massive bombs were dropped on it. One landed in front of Naung Mu Pali’s one-storey house and exploded with tremendous force.
She said to KIC: “We were sleeping so soundly that we didn’t hear the plane coming. We only woke up suddenly when we heard a loud explosion. I frantically searched for the torchlight next to my bed, but all I could feel were the shattered pieces of the house. That’s when I realised our village was being bombed. And just then, another bomb exploded. We were terrified, lying flat on the floor, trembling as fear consumed us completely.”
That night, after the bomb had dropped, Naung Mu Pali could not stay in her house any longer. Instead, she decided to go to her mother’s house with her two-year-old daughter, a decision that ultimately saved both their lives.
Whilst they were sheltering at her mother’s, later that night there was another airstrike. Two more bombs were dropped on the village. One exploded in front of Naung Mu Pali’s house and the other exploded behind it. Her house was completely destroyed. The bomb blasts also caused some damage to her mother’s house and her aunt’s house, both of which were nearby.
Naung Mu Pali’s house was one of three on the outskirts of the village that were hit by junta bombs. It was completely reduced to rubble.
Naung Mu Pali was a native of Ashun Village. She was born there and spent her entire childhood there. When she became a young adult, like many others from her village, she went to Thailand for work, where she met the man who would later become her husband, who also came from Kawkareik Township.
After the couple decided to get married, they worked hard together to save money. In 2020, Naung Mu Pali was able to send enough money back to her parents in the village to build a house.
At that time, prices were not as high as they are now, so they were able to build a sturdy and secure home for around 12 million MMK. It took the couple two years of working hard as migrant workers in Thailand to save up enough money to build the house.
Once they owned their home the couple returned to the village and got married there. After the wedding Naung Mu Pali, who was already pregnant, stayed in the village whilst her husband returned to Thailand to work. She now has a two-year old daughter and her husband is still in Thailand.
He had originally planned to return to the village to reunite with his family and get a job there. However, following the bombing of their home, the couple’s future plans have been thrown into doubt.
Since their home was destroyed Naung Mu Pali and her daughter have moved to her husband's home village near Nabu Town, also in Kawkareik Township. Her husband has remained working in Thailand where he can earn a wage and is not at risk of being conscripted.
According to a report by Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, a research group that monitors airstrikes by the junta throughout Myanmar, the junta carried out 865 airstrikes in Myanmar in the four months from September to December 2024. This equates to an average of seven airstrikes a day. As a result of those 865 airstrikes, 535 civilians were killed and 1,013 were injured. In Karen State alone, in that period, there were 44 airstrikes, which led to three deaths and three injuries.
Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica has yet to release any airstrike figures for 2025.
The junta's airstrikes may target resistance positions and revolutionary leaders, but in reality, the vast majority of casualties are civilians. The junta also deliberately launches airstrikes on civilian targets, often in areas where there is no ongoing fighting. Most of the deaths and property loss resulting from airstrikes are suffered by civilians.
The junta’s daily airstrikes have caused extensive losses of civilian lives and property.
Naung Mu Pali became one of those victims the night her home, which was built with her family’s hard-earned money, was destroyed in an instant by a junta airstrike. But, she is far from the only person this has happened to, or will happen to.
Across Myanmar, every day, more and more people are facing the same tragedy as Naung Mu Pali—the unbearable pain of losing their homes to junta violence.
