AIRLINK 168.96 Decreased By ▼ -1.61 (-0.94%)
BOP 11.25 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.63%)
CNERGY 8.49 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.95%)
CPHL 99.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-0.38%)
FCCL 46.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.21%)
FFL 15.44 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (1.91%)
FLYNG 27.60 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.18%)
HUBC 143.49 Increased By ▲ 5.71 (4.14%)
HUMNL 12.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.85%)
KEL 4.62 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.76%)
KOSM 5.41 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.93%)
MLCF 62.76 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.58%)
OGDC 211.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-0.38%)
PACE 5.42 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PAEL 46.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-1.44%)
PIAHCLA 18.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-2.06%)
PIBTL 10.96 Increased By ▲ 0.60 (5.79%)
POWER 12.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-1.22%)
PPL 171.30 Increased By ▲ 1.70 (1%)
PRL 35.98 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.36%)
PTC 23.15 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.26%)
SEARL 96.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (0.35%)
SSGC 41.31 Increased By ▲ 1.79 (4.53%)
SYM 13.86 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.14%)
TELE 7.16 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.14%)
TPLP 10.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.3%)
TRG 63.70 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.35%)
WAVESAPP 10.05 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.6%)
WTL 1.31 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
YOUW 3.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.37%)
BR100 12,386 Increased By 80.8 (0.66%)
BR30 37,778 Increased By 362.7 (0.97%)
KSE100 115,683 Increased By 829.4 (0.72%)
KSE30 35,468 Increased By 251.2 (0.71%)

BANGKOK: A Myanmar junta air strike killed 28 people, including children, and wounded 25 at a temporary detention area in western Rakhine state, an ethnic minority armed group said on Sunday.

The Arakan Army (AA) is engaged in a fierce fight with the military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swaths of territory in the past year, all but cutting off the state capital Sittwe.

The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a 2021 coup, sparking a widespread armed uprising.

The AA posted on its Telegram channel that a military jet bombed a detention area in Mrauk-U Township around 4.45 pm (10:15 GMT) on Saturday, where family members of junta soldiers were being held by the AA.

“Those who were killed and wounded were family members of soldiers in Myanmar’s Army. We arrested them during fighting,” the AA said in the post.

“As we were preparing a plan to release them, they were bombed,” the AA said.

Nine children were among those dead, including a two-year-old boy, it said. The others killed were women, according to a list of the dead posted by the AA.

Photos of the aftermath posted on the Telegram channel showed a long row of bodies laid on the floor in a grassy area, covered in white sheets. A number of people could be seen grieving close by.

AFP has attempted to contact the junta for comment about the incident but calls have not been answered.

The military is struggling to fight opposition to its rule on multiple fronts around Myanmar and it has been regularly accused of using air and artillery strikes to hit civilian communities.

It is unclear whether the strike in Mrauk-U Township was mistargeted or if the junta was unaware the area was being used as a detention site for soldiers’ families.

As well as youth-led “People’s Defence Forces” that emerged to oppose the coup, the military is also battling numerous long-established and well-armed ethnic minority armed groups.

These groups, which include the AA, control large areas of territory along Myanmar’s borders.

The UN Development Programme warned in November that Rakhine was heading towards famine as fighting squeezed commerce and agricultural production.

The United Nations said this month more than 3.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Myanmar, an increase of 1.5 million from last year.

Comments

Comments are closed.