Airstrike kills women and one child at resistance-operated detention camp in Mese
(BANGKOK, August 4, 2026)—Myanmar’s military junta carried out an airstrike on a resistance-operateddetention camp in Karenni State on March 5, 2026, killing at least five people, including three women, an 18-year-old man, and an 8-year-old girl, and injuring others, in what may amount to a war crime, Fortify Rights said today. The detention camp was holding exclusively women and children, many of whom were family members of junta soldiers.
Roughly seven weeks prior to the airstrike on the detention camp, more than 80 detained junta soldiers escaped under cover of darkness from a detention facility in Mese, Karenni State, run by resistance forces. Many reportedly fled toward neighboring Thailand. Survivors believe the escape led to the junta learning the location of the detention camp for women and children and other resistance group positions before launching the March 5 airstrike.
“Bombing detained women and children linked to junta soldiers is a shocking display of cruelty by the Myanmar military junta,” said John Quinley, Director at Fortify Rights. “This airstrike highlights the junta’s complete disregard for civilian life and the extent to which it will go to prevent leaks of information. It also reinforces the urgent need for international accountability and greater protection for civilians in Myanmar.”
In March 2026, Fortify Rights interviewed six people, including three women detainees who survived the airstrike, as well as detention officials operating the detention center under the Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC) and other resistance forces in Myanmar. The IEC granted Fortify Rights and two journalists access to the detention camp in Mese.
In addition to striking the detention camp for women and children, the March 5 attack also hit the male detention facility where the January 18 escape occurred and nearby pro-democracy resistance positions. According to interviews conducted by Fortify Rights and information from the IEC, the attack killed five detainees.
One survivor told Fortify Rights that she fled up a ravine and along a small stream during the attack, where she witnessed an 18-year-old man killed instantly:
The first time [the fighter jet came], I didn’t have time to enter the bomb shelter. During the second time, the airplane hadn’t dropped [any bombs] yet. … Then, [the fighter jet] came a third time
,and dropped the bombs. I threw myself down. The [18-year-old] boy was standing. He was startled and standing up … When the bombs were dropped, it hit him. … One of his arms was ripped off, and his intestines were also coming out of his belly.
The mother of the 18-year-old told Fortify Rights that when the fighter jet came overhead, the women and children detainees were having breakfast. The group ran toward a bunker behind the detention camp:
When we ran down [to the bunker], all the children were already inside. Because there were so many children, the bunker was crowded. … [A] group of boys, including my two sons, stayed outside due to the lack of space. I told my son, “Don’t go out, stay together with me. If we die, we die together, my son. If we live, we live together. Stay in the bunker with me.” But the eldest one said, “Mother, nothing will happen. You are safe, mother,” and he went out.
“The bomb dropped right next to him. [Before the explosion] I heard him say, ‘Mother is still there, I have to go call mother.’ While he was calling me, the bomb dropped right near him,” she told Fortify Rights.
Another woman detainee, 43, who witnessed the death of the 18-year-old-man, told Fortifty Rights:
One of his arms had just been ripped off by the explosion, and he was dead. I just left him there like that and came into the bomb shelter. At that time, since I was so terrified, wondering if it would come back again, I sat in the bomb shelter. I didn’t even tell his mother.
Another survivor told Fortify Rights that many children were injured while fleeing into a ravine during the attack, saying:
When the plane came the second time, we ran into the ravine. … Some were left behind in the bunker. While we were running into the ravine, another plane came diving down. … At that moment, [a bomb] was dropped right above my head, straight into the ravine. … [After the attack] children emerged from the ravine one by one with injuries, including one 8-year-old girl who later had her leg amputated [because of injuries caused] by the explosion.
One of the IEC detention officers described recovering victims after the attack. He told Fortify Rights:
[When I went back to the camp to rescue] I saw three [dead] bodies. The first was a boy who was around 18. His whole chest was blown apart. The second body was of a woman in her 60s. … [T]he third was a woman who was around 50 years old. … I carried an injured 8-year-old girl. She was bleeding from the neck and her waist. She was still alive [when I found her]. But she didn’t survive.
Those killed in the attack included three women, ages 64, 58, and 38, as well as an 18-year-old man and one 8-year-old girl. Survivors and witnesses interviewed by Fortify Rights also identified several injured detainees, including a 43-year-old woman, an 11-year-old girl, another 8-year-old girl whose leg was amputated, and a 6-year-old boy.
Survivors and the Karenni authorities believe the junta targeted the detention camp after escapees leaked its location. One of the women detainees told Fortify Rights:
[The junta escapees] must have told [the Myanmar military] that we were here. … They know families were here because they were told. [The military junta] wanted to kill us, so they dropped these bombs on us. … There are only families here; children and elders. I really don’t understand why they target and attack like this … Why are they hunting us down to kill us?
A Karenni detention officer told Fortify Rights about why he believed the junta attacked the detention camp, saying:
I believe the bombing happened here because those people [who escaped] provided information. They knew the exact locations here. They bombed our detention facility with precision. They knew where we would run. They bombed our exact escape route. They bombed the gate directly. They must have been given a tip-off. I think they bombed us because they were afraid the detainees would leak information to us [about the junta military].
Fortify Rights engaged with relevant Karenni resistance authorities regarding the detention of women and children and related judicial review processes.
During visits to the detention center in 2026, Fortify Rights observed that women and children had access to shelter and basic services. The children also had access to informal education.
Under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, civilians, including family members of combatants, cannot be arbitrarily detained simply because of their relationship to fighters. Any detention must be lawful, necessary, proportionate, and individually justified. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment.
Fortify Rights understands that some detained women are undergoing legal review by Karenni resistance authorities and may have been combatants.
International humanitarian law also requires parties to an armed conflict to distinguish at all times between military objectives and civilians and civilian objects. Direct attacks on civilian objects including detention camps, and attacks on legitimate military objects that are expected to cause excessive civilian harm in relation to the anticipated military advantage are both prohibited. Detention facilities holding civilians or other protected persons are protected from attack.
Based on data shared with Fortify Rights by the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Human Rights, at least 13 aerial attacks by the Myanmar military junta on resistance-run detention centers and other detention sites have been reported since 2022, suggesting a pattern of attacks on such sites. One attack occurred on March 8, 2026, when the junta carried out an aerial assault on an Arakan Army-run detention center in Rakhine State, reportedly killing more than one hundred junta soldiers held in detention. The Myanmar military’s repeated attacks on detention facilities suggest it is deliberately targeting its own captured soldiers and detainees.
“Despite limited resources, Karenni resistance authorities are taking steps to establish detention and judicial processes during armed conflict which seek to adhere to international laws of war and human rights standards. Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement is demonstrating that it is possible to build rights-respecting institutions and strive to uphold the rule of law even amid armed conflict,” said John Quinley. “Governments should not legitimize Myanmar’s military junta. Instead, they should support the country’s pro-democracy movement, including state-level governance initiatives in Karenni State.”
Photo credit: ©Fortify Rights, 2026