Junta steps up airstrikes on civilian targets in AA-held areas

Bombing by the junta air force resulted in numerous civilian casualties this week in townships captured by the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State. A cleaner in her 40s and another employee at a hospital were both injured by shrapnel in the town of Kan Htaung Gyi, Myebon Township, at around 4am on Sunday. “Two of the hospital’s staff members are in critical condition right now. They were both hit on the back of the head,” a local man said. He added that junta aircraft had dropped bombs on schools and monasteries, damaging several buildings and displacing most civilians from the town. “Everyone has fled, with only one or two people staying behind to look after the houses,” said the local man, who has been helping the town’s residents amid the destruction. Another airstrike in Tha Yet Taung village, Myebon Township, killed two civilians on Saturday. The Min Phu hospital seen after the airstrike (AA) The day before, an airstrike on Nyaung Kan village in the same township also resulted in numerous civilian injuries, according to Pe Than, a former lawmaker who represented a Myebon Township constituency before he chose to resign. “They bombed the monasteries and community halls and over 20 people were injured, from what I’ve heard,” he said. According to a statement issued on March 19 by the AA—Rakhine State’s most powerful ethnic armed organisation, which resumed fighting against the military in November 2023—the junta air force has been deliberately targeting civilian houses, displaced persons’ camps, schools, clinics, historical heritage sites, religious buildings, markets, and roads in Rakhine State. Myanmar Now attempted to contact spokespersons for the military council for comment on the airstrikes but received no response. A junta airstrike on Thar Dah village, Minbya Township at around 1:30 am on March 18 killed 22 Rohingya people, of whom more than half were children, and seriously injured 29 more. Another airstrike on Upper Lay Hnyin village, Mrauk-U Township killed a woman and four children last Thursday, injuring 10 others. The AA has held full control of the town of Ramree (Yanbye)—located on Ramree Island in Kyaukphyu District on the Bay of Bengal coastline—since March 11, during which the air force has reportedly bombed all six urban wards dozens of times. Kyaukphyu District is a starting point for pipelines carrying natural gas to China from offshore rigs in the Bay of Bengal. Last month, the air force deployed bombs with high destructive capacity–inclulding so-called “500-pound bombs”—in at least two airstrikes. The attacks hit the Min Phu Hospital in Minbya Township, Ramree’s central hospital, and several residential areas in the state. Pe Than noted that the offices of the United League of Arakan (ULA), which serves as the AA’s political wing, did not become the targets of junta airstrikes. Although the ULA and AA maintain headquarters throughout the state, the air force appears to prefer civilian targets, he said. “They knew they would lose if they fought against the armed forces, so they targeted civilians to push the armed groups to cease fighting,” Pe Than said. “They appear to be trying to brainwash people into thinking the AA is the cause of their suffering.” “In any case, targeting civilians is a war crime,” he added. The AA has captured the townships of Myebon, Minbya, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Ramree, and Rathedaung in Rakhine State as well as Paletwa Township in Chin State since resuming hostilities with the junta in November. Townships captured and held by the AA in Rakhine State (in red). The ethnic armed group is also currently fighting against army troops for control of Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in the north of the state. The AA has been fighting to seize full control of the Kyein Chaung border guard force station in Maungdaw Township for a month, and has captured military supplies, weapons and ammunition as well as the bodies of junta soldiers during ongoing clashes in the township. The AA announced on Tuesday that it would eliminate any combat forces collaborating with the military regime. The group has also said that its operations against the military are a response to the junta’s implementation of mandatory conscription for military service throughout Myanmar, and its pressure on civilians—especially members of ethnic minority groups—in Sittwe and Buthidaung to protest against the AA. While the Brotherhood Alliance—of which the AA is a member—agreed to a Chinese government-mediated truce with the Myanmar military in January, the ceasefire was only in force in northern Shan State and did not apply in Rakhine State or Chin State’s Paletwa Township. The junta has relied heavily on its artillery, navy, and air power as well as its ground forces in battles with the AA, which have only intensified in Rakhine State since the agreement went into effect. The AA’s deputy commander-in-chief Dr. Nyo Tun Aung has said that there will be no ceasefire between the AA and military in Rakhine State for the foreseeable future. AA troops seen after seizing Ponnagyun on March 9 (AA Info Desk)

Junta steps up airstrikes on civilian targets in AA-held areas

A veteran Rakhine State politician noted that the air force seemed to be avoiding direct confrontation with the Arakan Army in Rakhine State, instead concentrating its attacks on civilian targets

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