Myanmar Air Strike on a Rakhine Market Kills at Least 33
A fighter jet dropped two bombs near a market in the town of Kyauktaw at midday, killing at least thirty-three people and wounding thirty-six, according to the rebel group that controls the town and a rescue official. The dead included vendors, shoppers and passers-by. The Arakan Army said the toll “may continue to increase”.
The target was the region’s main wholesale market, drawing traders and shoppers from across the state, which is what makes a midday strike on it so lethal. Kyauktaw lies about 340 kilometres west of Mandalay in territory the Arakan Army has held since it launched its offensive in November 2023, taking a regional military headquarters and fourteen of the state’s seventeen townships along the way. The military, which seized power in the 2021 coup and has faced armed opposition ever since, did not comment and has previously denied targeting civilians. Rescue workers expect the figure to rise, and the armed group’s political wing has since given a higher one that independent reporting has not yet matched. The wire copy carries its own caution that details could not be independently verified. Watch whether any outside body investigates.