SRINAGAR: At least 49 people were killed and 58 others injured after a Myanmar military airstrike struck near a market in rebel-controlled Kyauktaw township in western Rakhine state on Monday, according to the Arakan Army and a rescue official.
The attack occurred around noon when a fighter jet dropped two bombs near the local market, the Arakan Army said. Vendors, shoppers and pedestrians were among those killed, while 22 of the injured were reported to be in critical condition.
Wai Hun Aung, a senior rescue official in Rakhine, confirmed the casualty figures to The Associated Press, citing rescue workers at the scene. He said the market served as the region’s main wholesale centre and drew traders and shoppers from across Rakhine.
“This is one of the most severe airstrikes in Rakhine,” he said.
Kyauktaw township lies about 340 km (210 miles) west of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, and is controlled by the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic armed group in Rakhine.
Images and videos circulated on social media showed buildings ablaze, damaged vehicles and sections of a nearby bridge destroyed following the strike.
The Arakan Army said Monday’s attack was part of a series of deadly airstrikes carried out by Myanmar’s military against ethnic armed organisations and pro-democracy resistance groups across the country. It said it would take retaliatory measures against those it holds responsible for airstrikes that have caused mass casualties.
The Myanmar military did not immediately comment on the reported attack. It has previously maintained that its airstrikes target legitimate military positions and accused resistance groups of terrorism.
Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021. The military crackdown on widespread anti-coup protests prompted many opponents to take up arms, leading to fighting across much of the country.
The Arakan Army is the armed wing of a movement seeking greater autonomy for Rakhine’s ethnic minority from Myanmar’s central government. It launched an offensive in the state in November 2023 and has since seized a strategically important regional military headquarters and 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships.
The conflict has disrupted trade routes and contributed to worsening food shortages, with the military imposing severe restrictions on movement and commerce. In December, a military airstrike on a hospital in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U township killed at least 34 people and wounded 80 others.
