Myanmar junta airstrikes killed at least nine residents of Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw and neighboring Paletwa in southern Chin State on Sunday, according to the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance and residents.
A transport jet bombed Kyauktaw town and nearby villages at around 10 pm, killing seven residents in the town’s Pike Thal ward and leaving nine others severely injured.
Around five hours earlier, an eight-year-old child was one of two residents killed on the spot when a warplane dropped two bombs on Paletwa town, the ethnic alliance and residents said.
Kyauktaw and Paletwa fell to the Arakan Army (AA) in January after two months of fighting in northern Rakhine and southern Chin State.
The Brotherhood Alliance of the AA, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said that after losing major towns and numerous bases in Rakhine State in just two months, the junta is retaliating with daily air and artillery strikes on townships under AA control.
On Monday, Light Infantry Battalion 542 based in Kyautaw town shelled nearby villages at around 9.40 am, according to local reports.
The coastal Ramree town was also shelled nine times by the Navy’s No. 41 landing craft, targeting the Aung Dhamma Beikman Buddhist chapel hall and Koyan Taung pagoda. The shelling destroyed several houses and other buildings, said locals.
Junta forces also continued the air and naval bombardment of AA-controlled Minbya Township on Monday. Four residents were severely injured when a fighter jet bombed Htoke Pin Lal village at around 3.30 pm.
The AA said it retaliated by sinking a Navy vessel in Minbya Township, claiming it was the fourth junta boat sunk in Rakhine over the past week.
The AA has seized the Rakhine towns of Pauktaw, Minbya, Kyauktaw, Taung Pyo Letwe and Mrauk-U since launching its western offensive in November.
Meanwhile, the Brotherhood Alliance has inflicted unprecedented defeats on the Myanmar military in northern Shan State since launching Operation 1027 last October.
