Air Delivered event in Mindat area, Myanmar on Fri 9th October 2026

Call for the U.S. Government to designate the Myanmar military's attacks on Christianity, including the bombing of a church in Mindat, as crimes against humanity and war crimes

Yangon, 12 October

The U.S.-based Burma Research Institute (BRI) announced that a Presbyterian church in Mindat, Chin State was damaged when a Myanmar military fighter aircraft carried out an airstrike at approximately 2:30 PM on 9 October.

The church belongs to the Victoria Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

According to BRI, the military dropped a 500-pound bomb, damaging:

The Presbyterian church building

The pastor's residence

The church-owned Victoria Private High School

The church had been built by its congregation and was completed in February 2018.

BRI urged the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to formally recognize the Myanmar military's deliberate, repeated, and systematic attacks on churches and religious facilities as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

BRI representative Zo Tum Hmung stated that this was not the first attack directed at the church. In August 2023, the military arrested Pastor Thang Ke U and church elders Choi Ke, Hun Chwe, and Hun Ke. Two of the elders were later reportedly killed, while the pastor and one elder were released.

The report further notes that Christian churches in Mindat have frequently been targeted since the 2021 military coup. Among the incidents cited:

Grace Baptist Church in Mindat Township was occupied by the military for about five months between May and September 2021.

Myoma Baptist Church in Mindat was damaged in an airstrike on 13 April 2026.

Pastor Van Bawi Khim of Emmanuel Farm Chin Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, called on the White House to publicly condemn continuing attacks against Christians in Myanmar. He previously served at a Presbyterian church in Tlanglo Village, Chin State, which was also destroyed by the Myanmar military.

The article states that CDF-Mindat (Chinland Defense Force-Mindat) currently controls Mindat, and that the military has consequently intensified airstrikes against the area.

BRI and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said the bombing of the church in Mindat forms part of a broader pattern of attacks on religious sites across Myanmar and again called on the United States to determine whether these attacks constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law.