Rohingya civilians injured, POWs killed by Myanmar junta airstrikes near Bangladesh border

Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military injured three Rohingya civilians and killed four prisoners of war held by the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Rakhine State late last week, according to residents and sources close to the ethnic armed group. The first attacks took place on July 1 in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. Both have been under AA control since 2024, when they were captured after months of fighting that drove junta forces from most of the region. Witnesses said a Y-12 aircraft and a fighter jet dropped two bombs on Kyet Mauk Taung, a village in Buthidaung Township, at around 10:30am, injuring three Rohingya civilians, including two 12-year-old boys, and damaging more than 10 homes. The village is near the former headquarters of the junta’s Military Operations Command No. 15. “We had to run while the aircraft circled overhead and dropped bombs,” one resident told Myanmar Now, adding that fear of further attacks had left many villagers unable to sleep. Later the same day, at least four fighter jets reportedly dropped more than 20 bombs near the former Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5 base in Maungdaw Township. The next day, on July 2, junta aircraft struck an AA prison camp near the village of Kyein Chaung in Maungdaw Township, killing four detainees, according to a source close to the armed group. Those killed included a doctor who had been serving in Myanmar’s military with the rank of captain and three members of Rohingya armed groups—two from the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation and one from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, the source said. Residents said two fighter jets and a Y-12 aircraft dropped more than 30 bombs over approximately 30 minutes beginning around 3pm. The prison facility was located near the former Border Guard Police Battalion No. 7 base close to the Bangladesh frontier. The AA has repeatedly accused the military of targeting detention facilities and sites holding prisoners of war in territories under its control. In March, a junta airstrike on another AA detention facility in Ann Township reportedly killed 116 people, including senior military officers captured during fighting in Rakhine State. Another strike on a prison camp in Kyauktaw Township in January killed 21 prisoners and relatives of captured soldiers, according to the AA. The AA now controls 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships as well as neighbouring Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, while fighting continues in the remaining regime-held areas of the state. As it loses territory on the ground, Myanmar’s military has increasingly relied on air power in areas controlled by ethnic armed organisations and resistance groups across the country.

Rohingya civilians injured, POWs killed by Myanmar junta airstrikes near Bangladesh border

The attacks took place late last week in areas under the control of the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine State

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