Myanmar military airstrike near Rakhine market kills 33, wounds 36

A Myanmar military airstrike near a market in western Rakhine state killed at least 33 people and wounded 36 others on Monday, according to the Arakan Army and a senior rescue official in the region.

The attack took place in Kyauktaw township, roughly 340 kilometres west of Mandalay. The Arakan Army, the ethnic armed group that controls the township, said a fighter jet dropped two bombs near a local market at around noon. Vendors, shoppers and pedestrians were among the dead, it said, adding that the toll could climb.

Wai Hun Aung, a senior rescue official in Rakhine, confirmed the casualties, citing rescue workers at the scene. He described the market as the region's main wholesale centre, drawing traders and shoppers from across the state, and called the strike one of the most severe in Rakhine.

Images circulating on social media showed buildings on fire, damaged vehicles and sections of a nearby bridge destroyed. The military did not immediately comment. It has previously said it targets only legitimate military objectives and accuses resistance groups of terrorism.

The Arakan Army is the armed wing of a movement seeking autonomy for Rakhine's ethnic minority. It launched an offensive in the state in November 2023 and has since captured a strategically important regional military headquarters and 14 of Rakhine's 17 townships. The military has imposed tight restrictions on trade routes since fighting intensified, deepening food shortages.

Monday's strike is the latest in a series of deadly aerial attacks on pro-democracy resistance forces and ethnic armed groups across Myanmar. In December, a military airstrike on a hospital in Rakhine's Mrauk-U township killed at least 34 people and wounded 80 others.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021, triggering widespread opposition. After security forces suppressed peaceful protests with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, plunging large parts of the country into conflict.