At least one civilian was killed and several others injured when junta aircraft bombed a hospital and a school in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine at midnight on Tuesday.
The targeted attacks on a cottage hospital in Waegyihtaung village and a high school in Nyaungbinhla village took place amid heavy fighting with the Arakan Army (AA).
“The school building in Nyaungbinhla collapsed, killing one and injuring five other internally displaced people sheltering there. At the hospital in Waegyihtaung, nurses and patients were injured,” a Kyauktaw resident said.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify his report.
The AA said at least 20 people including hospital staff, patients and caregivers were injured in the Waegyihtaung Hospital bombing, and some have since died. The number of fatalities is still unknown, it said, adding that the hospital was badly damaged in the bombing.
The AA has accused the regime of committing war crimes in Rakhine State by deliberately targeting non-military infrastructure like hospitals and clinics. The regime is venting its anger on Rakhine civilians as it loses the battle for the western state, said the AA, adding that it will document and report junta war crimes to the international community.
The ethnic army has seized around 180 junta bases along with six of Rakhine’s 17 townships, three other towns, and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State since launching its offensive on Nov. 13 last year.
Kyauktaw’s central market and shops were closed and the streets were deserted on Wednesday, the day after the attacks.
The regime also bombed Kinchaung village in southern Maungdaw on Tuesday morning, killing civilians, the AA reported.
The junta has targeted healthcare facilities in both the central plains and ethnic areas with bombing raids.
Wun Ma Thuu Hospital in Mindat Township, Chin State, was bombed on the night of April 25, killing four patients and a medical attendant and injuring many others.
In March, it attacked a cottage hospital west of Pekon on the border of Shan and Karenni states and also Kangyihtaung Hospital in Rakhine State’s Myebon Township. In February, it attacked a hospital in Rakhine State’s Minbya town.
The junta has destroyed 343 health facilities, killing 104 health workers and injuring 131 since the coup in 2021, according to the parallel National Unity Government’s latest report released last month.
