Myanmar military kills six IDPs in latest Rakhine bombing

A series of Myanmar military airstrikes on two internally displaced persons (IDP) camps has killed at least six civilians and injured 12 others in Rakhine State’s Ponnagyun Township—the latest in a string of deadly air attacks across the state. On Sunday evening, the junta bombed the Byarla IDP camp located between Thayetcho and Yoe Ngu villages in Ponnagyun Township, killing six people and injuring 11 others, a humanitarian aid worker said. “Two fighter jets bombed the area one after the other. We believe the number of casualties will rise further, so we cannot confirm the exact figures yet,” the aid worker said. On Monday morning, barely 12 hours after the first attack, the regime bombed another IDP camp in Pan Ni La village and injured a woman, a local resident said. “We are too afraid to even step outside, so we’re staying at home. It is no longer possible to go out and listen for news, we’re struggling just to stay alive,” the resident said. A local journalist said that people are living in constant fear and anxiety following the junta’s intensified airstrike campaign on civilian targets across several Rakhine State townships over the past week, which has left many dead and injured. “I can’t even sit at my desk where I normally write the news, I have to sit near the bomb shelter. I am so ill at ease that I cannot write, so I just sit and wait. It's extremely distressing,” the journalist said. On October 3, a regime Y-12 aircraft dropped approximately 20 bombs on urban wards in Rathedaung town and near Pya Chaung Gyi and Pyin Khaung villages just after midnight, killing a girl and an elderly man, and injuring 10 others. Only half an hour after that attack, another junta airstrike injured three residents in A Ngu Maw village, also in Rathedaung Township. On September 28, a regime airstrike near the Indian Market in Kyauktaw Township resulted in the mass killing of 50 civilians—the deadliest aerial assault in the state in the past three years. Myanmar’s military has struggled to regain control of territory in Rakhine State lost to the Arakan Army (AA) since the ethnic armed group launched a major offensive against the junta in late 2023. The AA currently controls 14 of the state’s 17 townships, and says it intends to capture the rest, including the state capital Sittwe, near Ponnagyun, by the end of next year.

Myanmar military kills six IDPs in latest Rakhine bombing

The latest deadly attacks come a week after at least 50 civilians were killed in the worst such incident since the current conflict in the state began nearly three years ago

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