NATTALIN, Myanmar — A wave of aerial bombardments using drones and motorized parachutes (paramotors) has left several civilians dead and injured in Nattalin Township, highlighting a deadly new phase of the Myanmar military’s campaign in the Bago Region.
Local sources confirmed that on the evening of April 9, 2026, military units launched a coordinated strike on Kyauk Khwet village. The attack, which involved a combination of combat drones and paramotors, left an elderly couple in their 60s severely wounded and caused multiple houses to catch fire.
“The number of bombs dropped was uncountable,” a local representative told MPA. “In Kyauk Khwet, they used both drones and paramotors simultaneously. The village was burning while we were trying to rescue the elderly couple, who are currently receiving emergency medical care.”
The violence continued into the night. Around 11:50 PM, a military strike targeted a boat landing in Ma Gyi Pin village, killing a 30-year-old man identified as Ko Tun Tun Oo. Residents reported that the aerial attack was followed by approximately 12 rounds of heavy howitzer shelling.
Earlier that morning, three paramotors reportedly dropped eight bombs on the villages of Kyun Lay Pin and Chaung Kann Gyi. One resident, Ko La Pyae Wun, died after suffering horrific injuries to both legs. “The villages are in ruins,” the source added. “There is almost nothing left of our homes.”
The military has reportedly split its forces into three separate columns to sweep through eastern Nattalin, an area that has seen repeated “clearance operations” over the past week.
The persistent bombardment has forced more than 10,000 residents from at least 15 villages to flee into the forests. Humanitarian workers warn of a looming crisis as the displaced population faces severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
“The systemic nature of these attacks, using light aircraft to target rural infrastructure like boat landings, suggests a strategy to cripple local movement and livelihoods,” a regional conflict analyst noted.
As the military junta under General Min Aung Hlaing continues to struggle for ground control in central Myanmar, its reliance on superior—yet often indiscriminate—air power remains the primary cause of civilian displacement and death. For the people of Nattalin, the new year has brought not celebration, but a desperate struggle for survival under a sky filled with the sound of approaching engines.
