Myanmar military increasing air attacks, say human rights groups

Two years after seizing power, Myanmar’s military continues to face stiff armed resistance on the ground, and is responding increasingly with air strikes that resistance forces have little defence against, according to a human rights monitoring group (Free Burma Rangers/AP)

Myanmar’s military is increasingly turning to air strikes with deadly results to try to crush stiff armed resistance, two years after it seized power and plunged the country into a prolonged civil war, a human rights monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The military is heavily reliant on fighter jets and helicopter gunships supplied by its allies, Russia and China, according to the non-governmental organisation Myanmar Witness and other experts.