About 40 people were killed and at least 20 injured in an attack by Myanmar’s army on a village controlled by an armed ethnic minority group, according to group officials and a local charity on Thursday. They said that a fire started by the bombardment destroyed hundreds of homes.
According to them, the incident took place on Wednesday in the village of Kyauk Ni Maw on Ramree island, which is under the ethnic Arakan Army’s authority in Western Rakhine state. There has been no announcement of an attack in the region by the military.
Since the village’s internet and cellular connections are largely unavailable, it was unable to independently verify the situation there.
Violence in Myanmar started when the army overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration in February 2021. Many opponents of military authority took up guns when the army used deadly force to crush nonviolent protests, and now there is war in many parts of the nation.
“All the dead were civilians. Among the dead and injured are women and children,” Khaing Thukha said. A fire started by the airstrike spread through the village, destroying more than 500 houses, Khaing Thukha added.
The reason why the village was targeted was unknown. The airstrike and injuries were also confirmed by independent media and the head of a local charitable group.
Over the past three years, the military government has increased airstrikes against armed ethnic minority groups that have been fighting for more autonomy for decades as well as against armed pro-democracy groups known as the People’s Defense Force. On occasion, the two groups collaborate to conduct operations against the army.
In March of last year, the Arakan Army took control of Ramree, which is located 340 kilometers (210 miles) northwest of Yangon, the largest city in the nation.
The Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which aspires to independence from Myanmar’s central government, has a well-trained and well-armed military branch known as the Arakan Army.
It began its offensive in November 2023 and has taken over 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships and a strategically significant regional army headquarters. Only the state capital, Sittwe, and two significant townships close to Ramree remain under the authority of the military administration.
The leader, who was away from the town at the time of the airstrike, spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. He said that members of his group in the area, who were experiencing a lack of medication to treat the injured, informed him of the situation.
