Myanmar military’s drone attacks kill woman in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township

A series of junta drone attacks carried out in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township on Wednesday left one woman dead and around a dozen others injured, according to local sources. The attacks took place in Sane, a town on the Kyaukphyu-Yangon highway about 38 miles’ drive southeast of the township’s administrative centre, and began at around 8am, the sources said. “There were eight drone bomb attacks,” said a local man who did not want to be identified, adding that the targets included a post office, a bus station, a hospital, and a vegetable market. “We saw with our own eyes how they dropped bombs on those public spaces,” he said. He said the woman who was killed had been selling tea at her teashop when it was hit by the second bomb, which also injured at least 10 people. “Her face was badly injured. We sent her to a nearby hospital, but she died soon after she arrived,” he said. “It’s been a crazy day with constant bombing,” said a local woman who also asked not to be named for security reasons. “They just dropped another round of three bombs,” she added as she spoke to Myanmar Now early Wednesday. Kyaukphyu, the site of a deep-sea port and a multibillion-dollar Special Economic Zone built with Chinese investment, is one of many areas in Rakhine State that have seen heavy fighting in recent months as the Arakan Army (AA) continues its push for control of the entire state. Sane is located about 17 miles from the town of Ramree, which the ethnic Rakhine armed group captured in March. The AA currently controls Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Rathedaung,Minbya, Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Myebon, and Ramree townships in Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State. On Monday, a junta airstrike on Kyauktaw killed at least five civilians, including a Buddhist monk, sources there reported. The military’s aerial attacks and shelling have killed dozens of civilians across the state since the AA began its offensive late last year. A monk living in Kyaukphyu said that Sane had been a frequent target of shelling from a nearby junta tactical base, but added that he could not confirm if there had been any fighting in the area on Wednesday due to a lack of mobile phone and internet connectivity. While most of the town’s inhabitants have fled the area, some have remained so they can keep an eye on their property, according to one man who has stayed. He said he didn’t know why the town was attacked on Wednesday. “There weren’t any clashes, and yet they deliberately attacked civilians. They should be fighting against those who have weapons, not attacking civilians,” said the man. “It was an inhuman act, attacking a civilian space like that,” he added. Like others still in the town, he said that he relies on a bomb shelter to keep himself and his wife and three-year-old son safe. “If we hear the drones coming, we hide in the bomb shelter. But if we’re unlucky, we could end up dead, too,” he said.

Myanmar military’s drone attacks kill woman in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township

The attacks came two days after junta airstrikes in Kyauktaw on Monday left at least five civilians, including a Buddhist monk, dead

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