More than 100, mostly POWs, killed in Myanmar junta airstrikes in Rakhine State

A series of airstrikes by Myanmar’s military killed 116 prisoners of war and injured 32 in Rakhine State’s Ann Township on Sunday, according to the Arakan Army (AA). In a statement released on Wednesday, the group said that the strikes targeted a detention camp in the township’s Dalet Chaung area where many regime forces captured during AA offensives, including officers, were being held. Four fighter jets and four Y-12 transport planes conducted the aerial bombing raids between 11 am and 2:30pm on Sunday, the AA said in its statement. It added that the attack was the deadliest of several carried out by the regime against AA-run detention centres in Rakhine State in recent years. Brig-Gen Thaung Htun, who served as deputy commander of the junta’s Western Regional Military Command in Ann Township until its capture by the AA in December 2024, was quoted by a local news outlet, One Nation News, as saying that the regime had been conducting reconnaissance flights over the camp since March 6. “They knew it was a prison. The buildings were constructed systematically. The layout of the security huts on this side was also visible. Furthermore, there was a lot of movement of people. And the people weren’t moving around in ordinary civilian clothes or military uniforms. They were entering and exiting in prison uniforms,” he said. “There was a lot of movement. Since aerial reconnaissance was also conducted, I don’t think it’s possible they didn’t know,” he added. Photos released by the AA show dead and injured POWs wearing iron shackles, and iron-barred cages, presumed to be detention cells, charred by fire. Charred detention cells seen after the junta airstrikes in Ann Township on March 8 (Photo: Hpone Thit) The AA launched an offensive against Ann Township in late September 2024 and took large numbers of prisoners when it seized the junta’s regional command headquarters on December 20 after nearly three months of intense fighting. Since then, the prisoners have been left to languish in AA custody, with no attempt by the regime to win their release. “Doing this, instead of negotiating with the AA to bring them back, makes the prisoners feel more resentful,” said a woman who has visited the camp. “What the POWs want is for those on the frontline to consider the situation wisely. A soldier must obey orders, but the POWs want them to think carefully about what they are being ordered to do,” she said. In April and May 2025, nearly 1,200 POWs and family members captured during battles in Mrauk-U, Minbya, Maungdaw, and Buthidaung townships were released. There have been at least four attacks on AA detention camps in Rakhine State since late 2024. In September of that year, assaults on two different sites, in Maungdaw and Pauktaw townships, left dozens dead, most of them POWs. In January of last year, dozens more were killed at a camp in Mrauk-U Township, and on January 20 this year, 21 died and 30 were injured in an attack in Kyauktaw Township. Those killed in that incident included both POWs and their family members. Five were women (two of whom were pregnant) and four were children under the age of 15, including an infant less than two months old.

More than 100, mostly POWs, killed in Myanmar junta airstrikes in Rakhine State

The attack is just the latest by the regime targeting detention centres holding captured members of its own armed forces

Subscribe for full access

Across a border and into a war: A Karenni leader’s final journey

When going home is impossible: Myanmar nationals find solace in Singapore’s Peninsula Plaza

The Russian general behind Moscow’s decades-long military courtship of Myanmar

Explainer: Who are the companies and cronies backing Myanmar junta leader’s Thailand visit?

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar political prisoner Dein Daung dies after delayed medical treatment

Junta column faces strong resistance en route to Hpapun tactical base

Malaysia to invite Myanmar junta leader over Rohingya repatriation push

Myanmar deports US citizen detained over business dispute