Junta launches multiple airstrikes on AA-held coastal towns in Rakhine, killing civilians

Myanmar’s military carried out a series of air and naval attacks on towns in Rakhine State on Monday, killing civilians including young children and raising fears of escalating violence in coastal areas under resistance control, sources say. In Thandwe Township, an area under Arakan Army (AA) control, junta aircraft rolled out airstrikes for nearly half an hour at around 11am, while naval vessels offshore fired heavy artillery, according to local residents.“I was preparing to eat when the jet came,” a woman living near the site told Myanmar Now.“When the first bomb dropped, I thought I was dead. The plane was flying very low before I could even reach a shelter. I didn’t know whether to worry about others or myself.” At least four civilians were killed and three others injured in the attack. The victims included two sisters aged two and seven, their 26-year-old mother, and their grandmother, who had been displaced from Kyauktaw Township and were sheltering nearby. Three others, a three-year-old child, an eight-year-old girl, and their pregnant mother, were wounded, according to a statement from the AA. The AA condemned the attack, calling it the first instance of an entire family being killed in what it described as a war crime under the leadership of the junta’s newly appointed military chief, General Ye Win Oo. The airstrike comes amid a broader intensification of junta attacks across Rakhine and neighbouring Chin State, where significant territory is now under AA control. On March 23, a drone strike on Sane Town, in Kyaukphyu Township, injured eight civilians, including four men and four women. Days later, on March 29, two fighter jets bombed a village in Paletwa Township, Chin State, killing seven civilians, including four children under 16, and injuring four others. Homes were also destroyed by fire, sources say. The AA has stated that the military has increasingly deployed multiple aircraft in single raids, concentrating firepower on specific targets. Observers and residents told Myanmar Now this pattern has become more frequent in recent weeks. The group controls most of Rakhine, with only Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung still under junta control, and has launched recent attacks on military positions. Resistance groups say the junta’s intensified airstrikes are aimed at intimidating civilians and undermining support for the resistance. In one of the deadliest recent incidents, junta aircraft bombed a prisoner-of-war detention site in Ann Township in Rakhine State for four hours, killing 116 detainees and injuring 32. Data released on Wednesday this week by the National Unity Government’s human rights ministry shows that from February 2021 to January 2026, the military carried out 2,293 airstrikes nationwide, targeting civilian infrastructure indiscriminately. Sagaing Region suffered the highest levels of destruction, according to the data. Despite a global fuel crisis, the junta has continued to deploy air power extensively, carrying out mass-casualty attacks across Rakhine, Magway, Bago, Sagaing, and Kachin states and regions in March alone, reportedly killing more than 300 people.Residents in affected areas told Myanmar Now that the attacks have left communities living in constant fear. “I can’t sleep at night anymore,” a man from Thandwe told Myanmar Now. “Every sound makes me think a jet is coming to bomb us.”

Junta launches multiple airstrikes on AA-held coastal towns in Rakhine, killing civilians

Children among the dead as jets and naval vessels pound Thandwe and other resistance-held areas

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