At least 33 killed as Myanmar jets strike Rakhine market, destroying bridge

An air strike by Myanmar's military killed at least 33 people and wounded dozens more on Monday in territory held by rebel factions in Rakhine state, in the west of the country, according to rescue workers and the Arakan army, the armed group that controls the area.

The attack came at around noon local time (0530 GMT), when a fighter jet dropped two bombs near a local market in the town of Kyauktaw, in the northern part of the state, the Arakan army said. Those killed included vendors, shoppers and pedestrians who were in and around the market at the time of the attack, according to the group, which warned that the death toll "may continue to increase."

A senior rescue official in Rakhine, Wai Hun Aung, confirmed the account to The Associated Press. He said the market struck was the region's principal wholesale centre, one that normally draws traders and shoppers from across the state — a detail that suggests the casualties were not limited to fighters or members of any armed group. "This is one of the most severe airstrikes in Rakhine," Wai Hun Aung said.

Images and video footage published on social media showed buildings burning, damaged vehicles and parts of a nearby bridge destroyed, indicating that the blast extended beyond the market itself into surrounding civilian infrastructure. The destruction of a bridge over a waterway is particularly significant in a province where movement of goods and aid is already heavily constrained.

Myanmar's military did not immediately respond to reports of the strike. In previous such incidents, the military government has said it targets only legitimate military objectives and has accused resistance groups of "terrorism" — language it regularly uses to justify attacks on armed opponents in the ethnic minority regions.

Monday's strike was the latest in a long series of offensives by the military government against pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed organisations. Myanmar has been engulfed in conflict since 2021, when the military seized power in a coup that ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. A nationwide resistance movement that initially took shape as mass protests has since hardened into a civil war between the military government and a patchwork of ethnic and pro-democracy armed groups fighting on varying political agendas.

The conflict has produced a leadership transition of sorts without ending the fighting. Min Aung Hlaing, the former chief of the military government, was elected by a military-backed parliament in April, formalising his control of the state after five years of direct army rule. The vote did not alter the underlying dynamics on the ground, where the army continues to rely on air power, artillery and drone strikes to hold territory it cannot easily hold with ground troops.

In Rakhine, the principal rebel organisation is the Arakan army, a well-trained and well-armed group seeking autonomy for the state's ethnic minority. The organisation launched a major offensive in November 2023 and has since seized strategically important military headquarters as well as 14 of the state's 17 townships, giving it control over most of the province — including, apparently, Kyauktaw, where Monday's strike took place.

That territorial shift is central to the strike's significance. As rebel control has expanded, air attacks on populated areas have become a recurring feature of the campaign, and market days and other civilian gathering points have been struck repeatedly. The Arakan army's claim that vendors and shoppers were among the dead has been echoed by rescue officials, and the reported devastation of a bridge suggests an intention — or at least an effect — of disrupting the movement of people and goods.

Humanitarian conditions in Rakhine have deteriorated sharply. The military has imposed severe restrictions on trade routes into the region since the fighting intensified, contributing to food shortages in both government- and rebel-held areas. Nearly half a million people have been displaced within Rakhine as a result of the conflict, according to United Nations data.

Airstrikes have repeatedly hit civilian sites in the province. In December, a military air strike on a hospital in Mrauk U township killed at least 33 people and wounded 70 others — a toll strikingly similar to that reported in Kyauktaw this week, and an indication that such attacks have continued unabated.

International human rights monitors have warned that the situation is deteriorating further. In August, the United Nations said the human rights situation in Myanmar had plummeted "to a new low", citing "brutal abuse" against the Rohingya minority and the devastating consequences of illicit economic activity, including illegal mining for rare earth minerals. The report underscored how the war economy — including the supply of minerals to international buyers — continues to finance and sustain the violence.

The battlefield itself is also changing. Rebel groups and Myanmar's military are now both using drones extensively in the protracted conflict, alongside airstrikes, artillery and small arms. Overall, the violence has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, an independent monitor of conflict events.

Monday's attack in Kyauktaw underlines how deeply the fighting has moved into civilian spaces. With the military claiming it only strikes military targets, and the Arakan army warning that the death toll may rise, the immediate focus of rescue workers will be searching the rubble of a wholesale market and a damaged bridge for survivors — in a province where half a million people have already been uprooted and trade routes remain choked.