BY  :  Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor 

Myanmar’s military destroyed two churches in predominantly Christian areas of Chin and Kachin states this month, bombing a Presbyterian church in the town of Mindat and burning a Baptist church outside the town of Bhamo.

Two military jets that took off from an air base in Magway made two bombing runs over Mindat at about 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom. The jets dropped four bombs, which landed at two sites in the town.

Mindat, in southern Chin State, has faced repeated ground offensives, shelling and airstrikes since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup. Many residents have fled.

On Oct. 12, at about 3:30 p.m., troops from the military’s 33rd and 88th Light Infantry Divisions burned down the Htingnan Kachin Baptist Church and the houses around it. The church stood in Shwe Pyi Tha Ward, part of a neighborhood known as Three Mile in Bhamo Township, also spelled Banmaw, in Kachin State.

“The destruction of the Presbyterian church in Mindat and the Htingnan Kachin Baptist Church in Banmaw are clear violations of international humanitarian law and freedom of religion or belief,” CSW Founder President Mervyn Thomas said in a statement. “Targeting and destroying places of worship that serve as spiritual and community lifelines for vulnerable populations is a grave crime.”

Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an armed resistance group in Christian-majority Kachin State, told The Irrawaddy that soldiers set fire to a church in Three Mile Village, on the road to Momauk. He said clashes had broken out in the area from time to time.

The Kachin Baptist Convention ran the church. Residents quoted by local media said soldiers had burned it once before, after the military suffered heavy losses against resistance fighters.

The fire came as the military pressed its campaign to retake Bhamo. The KIA and allied groups attacked the town in late 2024 and took most of it in 2025, but they lost some ground this year as the military sent in more troops ahead of a counteroffensive.

Naw Bu said KIA-led forces and military troops had fought often near Bhamo University and around the military’s Light Infantry Battalion 47. He said resistance groups still held much of the town.

CSW said the two attacks are part of a pattern in which the military deliberately targets religious buildings in Christian-majority ethnic states such as Chin, Karenni and Kachin. The group said race and religion are closely tied in Myanmar and that the regime’s ideology rests on the ethnic nationalism of the Bamar, the country’s mostly Buddhist ethnic majority.

CSW added that the military destroys churches to retaliate against Chin and Kachin armed resistance, punishing Christian civilians from those communities. Churches in those areas also serve as shelters for people displaced by fighting, as schools and as aid distribution points, the group said.

“The international community must move beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps to cut off the junta’s access to aviation fuel and military hardware,” Thomas said.

Jacob, of the rights group Kachin Human Rights Watch, told The Irrawaddy that the burning is a breach of religious freedom and accused the military of repeatedly breaking international law. He said the military and allied militias had detained religious leaders, struck churches with drones and used religious sites for military purposes. Violations of religious freedom in Kachin State are increasing, he said.

In September, the Shanni Nationalities Army, a militia allied with the military, turned the grounds of two churches in Indaw — one Baptist, one Catholic — into a training site and an office. Ethnic Kachin residents criticized the move.

Earlier this month, the military and its allies used a suicide drone to strike a church in Mohnyin Township.

Buddhist and Muslim sites have also come under military attack. The monitoring group Myanmar Witness reported in April that it recorded more than 300 airstrikes on religious sites, including mosques, monasteries and churches, from January 2024 through December 2025.

The military’s air force carried out nearly 90% of those strikes. Shan State and Sagaing Region were hit hardest.

In August, a military airstrike hit a Buddhist temple in Myaung Township, Sagaing region, killing 14 civilians. About 100 people had gathered at the temple for a meditation retreat.

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