Myanmar’s junta is being accused of committing another war crime after a hospital in Chin State was bombed on Thursday night.
Regime fighter jets bombed Wun Ma Thuu Hospital in administrative unit town of the state’s Mindat Township at about 8 pm Thursday, killing four civilians and injuring 15 more, an official from the Chinland Defense Force-Mindat (CDF-Mindat) told The Irrawaddy.
“The people who were killed and wounded were patients and family members looking after them,” the Chin resistance official said.
CDF-Mindat said the hospital had up to 300 beds and was located in the east of the township. The resistance group said there was no fighting in the area before the hospital was destroyed in the nighttime airstrike.
Intentionally targeting medical facilities is a war crime under international law.
Photos from the scene show the entire hospital in flames. Officials say the hospital was destroyed along with all the medical equipment and medicine inside it.
Before bombing the hospital, junta jets hit another area of Mindat Township at about 4 pm. Junta jets also bombed civilian neighborhoods in Mindat Township at 11 pm on Thursday, but the amount of damage and number of casualties is not yet known, CDF-Mindat said.
Chin State is among Myanmar’s poorest areas. Its mountainous terrain and limited transportation routes make it difficult for residents to access health services and for healthcare providers to access residents. Since the coup, access to medicine and healthcare has plunged further, leading to a public health crisis that includes a surge in infant and maternal mortality rates.
On April 3, junta fighter jets dropped cluster bombs on civilian targets in the township’s Auk Chaing village. The Mindat Township People’s Administration said five civilians, including two toddlers, were injured by the bombs. Twelve homes were destroyed and others were damaged by the bombs, the administration said. It said a school was also damaged by the cluster bombs.
The use of cluster bombs is prohibited by most countries globally. The bombs are composed of “droplets” (submunitions) that are scattered when the bomb hits its target. The droplets can remain explosive for decades.
On April 1, three junta fighter jets used bombs and machine-gun fire during an attack on a village at Mindat’s administrative unit two, damaging a home and a religious building.
On March 15, a mother and her six-year-old daughter were killed during a junta airstrike on a village in Mindat’s administrative unit three, according to the township’s administration. Four more people were wounded in the attack, which also destroyed two schools and a church.
