Terms and Categories

Direct fighting between two or more armed groups involving exchange of fire or physical combat.

Attack carried out by military aircraft (fixed-wing jets or helicopters) using bombs, rockets, or guns.

Attack carried out by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV/drone), including commercial drones modified for weapons delivery.

Attack using artillery, mortars, rocket launchers, or missiles fired from ground-based systems.

Detonation of a landmine or improvised explosive device that was emplaced as an attack.

A thrown or launched explosive (grenade, pipe bomb, homemade bomb) fired directly — a thrown grenade, or an RPG or shoulder-fired launcher aimed at a target in the firer's line of sight.

Deliberate destruction of inert, unoccupied infrastructure outside active combat — a bridge, a pylon, a rail line, a telecommunications tower.

Military forces surround and cut off access to a town, area, or location, preventing movement of people, supplies, or reinforcements in or out.

Physical attack targeting civilian persons or groups using ground forces, small arms, or close violence.

Sexual assault, rape, or other forms of conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by armed actors against civilians.

Deliberate burning or destruction of civilian property including homes, villages, markets, and religious buildings.

Indirect fire or air-delivered munitions striking a civilian target — a village, a gathering, a ceremony, a residential area — with no opposing combatant named as the target.

Violence perpetrated by a civilian group or mob against other civilians.

Deliberate killing of a specific person, or an attempt made with lethal means, because of their role or affiliation in the post-coup conflict — on either side.

Arrest or detention of persons by security forces or armed groups, where the detention is the primary act — a house raid, a checkpoint stop, a targeted arrest.

A person is taken by an armed actor — the military, police or pro-military militia, or a resistance or ethnic armed group — and the note states that their fate or whereabouts are unknown, or that the holder denies or will not disclose holding them.

An actor drove people out — an order to leave, homes burned or destroyed, a forced relocation.

Forcible recruitment into military service, or compulsion to serve as a porter carrying military supplies or guiding a route.

Civilians taken and used to protect an armed actor from danger — walked ahead of troops, placed in vehicles, or held at a position under threat of attack.

Deliberate disruption or shutdown of telecommunications, internet, or mobile networks by an armed actor or state authority, restricting civilian access to information and communication.

Coercive actions that create fear without direct physical harm or formal arrest.

Organized demonstration, march, strike, or sit-in by civilians without security force intervention or violence.

Protest during which security forces intervene to disperse demonstrators using force, tear gas, rubber bullets, or live ammunition.

Formal or informal ceasefire agreements, peace negotiations, or diplomatic talks between armed parties.

PDF, EAO, or resistance forces capture and hold a town, military base, or strategic location previously held by the Myanmar Military or SAC-aligned forces.

Myanmar Military recaptures and holds territory, towns, or bases previously lost to resistance forces.

An armed group formally establishes a new permanent or semi-permanent headquarters, military base, or camp.

Formal announcement of a political or military alliance between two or more armed or political actors.

Official statements, announcements, or declarations by armed or political actors with strategic significance.

An armed actor leaving one side for another.

Release by an actor of people it was holding — detainees, prisoners of war, or political prisoners.

Reported movement or positioning of armed forces for a confirmed period (days/weeks), without active combat or coercive action against civilians.

Military forces enter a village or area with coercive intent — searching homes, detaining residents, or creating fear — without active combat occurring.

Formal announcement of the formation of a new armed group, resistance unit, or political-military faction.

Confiscation or capture of weapons, ammunition, or military equipment outside active combat.

An armed group completing or holding military training, including graduation ceremonies.

For an event the taxonomy genuinely has no home for — not for one that is merely unusual.