United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said he is “alarmed” by reports of ongoing Myanmar military air strikes on villages in Rakhine state, where locals told AFP more than 20 people were killed on Monday.
Since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked government forces in November, a ceasefire that had mainly held since the military’s coup in 2021, clashes have shook Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.UN chief Antonio Guterres is “alarmed by reports of ongoing air strikes by the military, including today (Monday) in Minbya township that reportedly killed and injured many civilians,” a spokesperson for Garcia said on Monday.
East of the state capital Sittwe, which has been virtually blocked off by AA fighters in recent weeks, is the township of Minbya.Ten adults, four women, and ten children were killed in the airstrike that struck the village of Thar Dar on Monday at 1:45 a.m., an AFP resident reported. He requested anonymity out of concern for his safety. “There was no fighting in our village and they bombed us,” he stated.Another local, who also requested anonymity, reported that the explosion had left 18 people injured and 23 dead.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya have been forced to travel to neighboring Bangladesh due to the ongoing war in Rakhine, while hundreds of thousands were forced to evacuate due to a military crackdown in 2017.It is quite difficult to communicate with the riverine region when the majority of cell networks are unavailable.Sittwe is held by Junta forces, but AA fighters have gained ground in the nearby areas in recent weeks.Additionally, fighting has spread to Bangladesh and India, two nearby countries.
At least two individuals died in Bangladesh last month as a result of mortar bombs that crossed the border from Myanmar during hostilities there.Several armed ethnic minority groups, including the AA, have fought the military for autonomy and control over valuable resources in Myanmar’s border regions since the country’s 1948 independence from Britain.
