A 19-year-old student was killed instantly and her mother seriously injured after a Myanmar military “suicide drone” struck their home in Chin State, local sources have reported.
The attack occurred at approximately 16:00 local time on 8 March in Lunn Hawt village, Falam Township. According to local reports, the drone directly targeted a residential home located near an Assembly of God (AG) church while the family was preparing their evening meal.
“The bomb fell right on the house,” a local source told the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA). “The young woman was cooking when the drone struck; she died at the scene. Her 57-year-old mother also sustained life-threatening injuries”.
The victim was identified as a Grade 10 student. On the same day, another drone strike was reported in the nearby village of Seim Zaul, though no casualties were reported there as residents had already fled. This follows an incident on 7 March in Seim Zaul, where heavy artillery fire killed a 14-year-old boy and injured two other teenagers who had returned to the village to retrieve personal belongings.
Falam Township has been under intense military pressure since late October 2025, as the junta deployed thousands of troops in an attempt to regain control of the area. However, resistance from Chin allied forces has stalled the military’s advance toward Falam town, leading to frequent retaliatory airstrikes, drone attacks, and shelling on civilian areas.
The ongoing conflict has forced more than 5,000 people from 13 villages, including Lunn Hawt and Seim Zaul, to flee their homes. Humanitarian groups have raised concerns over the military’s increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civilian-populated zones, which continues to drive up the casualty toll in one of Myanmar’s most isolated conflict regions.
