More than 40 civilians, including children, were killed in a regime airstrike on a village tract controlled by the Arakan Army (AA) in Ramree Township, Rakhine State on Wednesday.
The airstrike on Kyauknimaw also injured at least 20 residents and destroyed around 500 homes in its northern, southern and central wards and close to the main market. Among the victims were women, children, and elderly residents, according to locals.
Residents said fires sparked by the bombing spread quickly through the densely populated neighborhoods, consuming hundreds of homes. The population of Kyauknimaw has been swelled by people fleeing the fighting between the ethnic AA and the junta in neighboring Taungup Township.
The death toll from the airstrikes is expected to climb.
“I heard today that the number of people injured is higher than the fatalities,” a Kyauknimaw resident told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “Medicines are scarce so the death toll may increase.”
The AA seized control of Ramree Township, an island off Myanmar’s west coast, on March 11 last year. The regime has since launched frequent airstrikes on the territory despite the absence of fighting.
The AA has so far captured 14 of the 17 townships in Rakhine State, leaving only the state capital of Sittwe, Munaung Township on Munaung Island and Kyaukphyu Township on the northern tip of Ramree Island in regime hands. Kyaukphyu is the starting point of the China-Myanmar pipeline that carries natural gas to Yunnan Province.
Wednesday’s air raid came less than two weeks after the AA announced it was ready join peace talks with the regime.
AA spokesman Khaing Thu Kha reported that Kyauknimaw was bombed at 1.30 pm on Wednesday, sparking huge blazes that took around five hours to extinguish.
He called the attack “cowardly”, saying it was conducted despite the absence of fighting in Ramree.
“Launching deadly airstrikes on civilians is a blatant war crime,” he said.
