The Burma Army’s War Against Churches

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The shattered remains of churches and the lifeless bodies of innocent children, covered in rubble and caked in blood, tell a harrowing story of the Burma Army’s escalating campaign against civilians and religious sanctuaries.

Once vibrant centers of community and the final refuge for a desperate people worn down by seven decades of war, these churches now stand riddled with bullet holes, torn apart by airstrikes, reduced to desolate ruins.

The faces of grieving mothers clutching their children’s clothes, the tiny corpses laid side by side as mourning villagers gather in sorrow, powerless to stop the next attack—this heart-wrenching scene is replayed day after day across Burma.

The war in Burma began in 1948 but escalated significantly after the 2021 coup. Since then, the people have become dramatically more unified in their resistance.

Burmans and city dwellers now find their interests aligned with those of ethnic and religious minorities, while numerous ethnic armed organizations have achieved greater success through coordinated offensives against Burmese government forces.

Today, much of Burma’s territory is under the control of ethnic resistance armies. However, the war continues to smolder due to the junta’s overwhelming advantage in airpower and its asymmetric edge in drone and urban combat.

As the Burmese government loses ground to pro-democracy resistance forces, the junta has intensified its attacks on civilians.

Churches, temples, monasteries, seminaries, internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps, schools, and casualty collection points have all become targets.

Evidence of these atrocities is being meticulously collected by local communities, Free Burma Rangers (FBR), and ethnic human rights and civil society groups, who publish their findings across various media and social platforms.

These reports keep the international community and diaspora—millions who have already fled the fighting—informed.

Tragically, beyond issuing stern statements of condemnation, neither Western governments nor the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has taken meaningful action to stop the violence or to curb China’s support of the junta through funding, weapons, jets, and fuel.

On December 9, 2024, the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a faith-driven frontline aid organization, reported a series of targeted attacks on churches in northern Burma by the Burma Army, resulting in the deaths of 12 civilians, including nine children.

Over the course of three weeks, airstrikes destroyed three churches and inflicted heavy civilian casualties, with many victims sheltering from the ongoing conflict in Shan and Kachin States.

Among the attacks was the bombing of a Chinese Christian Church in Kutkai Village, Shan State, on November 18, which killed a woman and two children and wounded 12 others.

In October, the junta launched a drone attack on St. Michael’s Church in Mon Hla village, Sagaing Region, the home village of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Myanmar’s prominent Catholic leader.

The region, a stronghold of resistance against the junta, has witnessed escalating violence, including airstrikes, artillery shelling, and drone bombings that have destroyed homes, monasteries, and mosques, displacing thousands.

Separately, evidence of atrocities, including decapitations and dismemberments by junta forces in Budalin Township, was presented at the United Nations, highlighting the junta’s escalating brutality since its 2021 coup.

So far, neither the United Nations nor any other international observers have done anything to help the victims or prevent future atrocities.

In Kachin State, the Christian minority has often borne the brunt of the violence, as the military, dominated by the Buddhist majority, targets churches.

In a recent attack on November 15 near the Chinese border, a bomb struck a church in Konlaw village, killing nine people, including six children, and injuring 11 others, seven of them critically. The victims included an entire family of six.

On October 27, 2024, a junta airstrike destroyed the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) church in Hsenwi, northern Shan State, completely collapsing the building.

Over the past year, junta airstrikes in northern Shan State have killed 107 people and injured 320. These strikes are part of the military’s ongoing campaign against the MNDAA and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), two ethnic resistance armies fighting against the junta.

Unfortunately, caving to pressure from China, as of December 4, 2024, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) declared a unilateral ceasefire and expressed willingness to engage in peace talks with government forces.

Meanwhile, groups like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continue to fight to remove junta forces from their territory.

Naw Bu, the KIA’s information officer, condemned the November 15 attack in Konlaw village, Kachin State, as a violation of international law. “Such an attack on displaced civilians and a religious building is a war crime,” he stated.

The airstrike targeted children from the camp who were playing near the church, as well as the camp itself. “In one family, the father, mother, and all their children—six people in total—were killed,” Naw Bu added.

The victims ranged in age from five to 36. Eleven others were injured, seven of whom are in critical condition and receiving treatment near the Chinese border in Lai Zar.

Rebel forces and human rights organizations believe the junta deliberately targets civilians to instill fear and weaken support for anti-junta resistance groups.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, junta airstrikes nationwide killed 540 people between January and October 2024, underscoring the devastating toll of the ongoing conflict. With the onset of the dry season in November, the junta has intensified its military offensives in an effort to reclaim lost territories.

The dry conditions allow for easier movement of heavy military equipment, enabling more frequent and sustained attacks on rebel strongholds.