27 civilians died in a series of junta bombing raids in resistance-held areas of Rakhine, Kachin and southern Shan States on Saturday and Sunday, adding to a death toll of at least 26 in Rakhine State’s Ramree Township the previous week, according to local sources.
At least 15 were killed and 10 more were injured in Kachin State’s Tanai Township on Saturday when junta warplanes bombed a gold mining site within territory controlled by anti-regime forces, according to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
“The mining site is currently under our control. So, I personally believe it was a deliberate attempt to target civilians and sabotage our efforts to collect taxes,” said KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu.
The area of Tanai Township that came under attack, which KIA-led forces seized from the military in May 2024, is an important production hub for amber as well as gold.
Regime forces also continued targeting towns of strategic importance in Rakhine State, where most of the territory is now under the control of the Arakan Army (AA or Arakha Army), a powerful anti-junta armed organisation.
On the same day as the airstrikes in Tanai Township, the junta air force bombed Kyauktaw, a town the AA has held since capturing it in February 2024. Kyauktaw is located some 50 miles north of Sittwe, Rakhine State’s largest city and administrative centre.
Local sources said junta warplanes dropped multiple bombs in crowded areas including a marketplace in the centre of in Kyauktaw, killing at least ten civilians.
“At least 20 people sustained injuries in the junta airstrikes. Most of the deceased were vendors and pedestrians,” a man living in AA-controlled territory in Kyauktaw Township said.
Kyauktaw has become a major trade hub because of its proximity to the border town of Paletwa in neighbouring Chin State, which the Rakhine armed group also took over in early 2024.
Airstrikes also hit the coastal village of Taung Oo Maw in Rakhine State’s Pauktaw Township on Sunday, but there were no civilian casualties reported.
The village targeted in the junta airstrikes is less than five miles southeast of Sittwe, which is still under the junta forces’ control, across an estuary where the Kaladan River flows into the Bay of Bengal.
At the time of reporting, 26 bodies had been recovered in the village of Kyauk Ni Maw in Rakhine State’s Ramree Township, also located on the Bay of Bengal around 105 miles southeast of Sittwe, following airstrikes that took place on January 8.
The military regime has also escalated its shelling, drone strikes, and air raids in rural areas of southern Shan State’s Pekon and Hsihseng townships, according to anti-junta forces operating there.
Two women died and another was injured around 3pm on Saturday when junta jets bombed Hpyi Kyut village in Hsihseng Township, which shares border with Karenni (Kayah) State.
Junta warplanes also dropped three bombs on two rural villages on Sunday in western Pekon Township, which also shares a border with Karenni State. While no civilian casualties were reported, the attack reportedly left behind a piece of unexploded ordnance.
“Three bombs landed near the edge of two villages. One is still lying near a school, unexploded,” said Banya Khung Aung, a representative of the Karenni Human Rights Group that operates in the area.
