Bangkok: An ethnic minority armed group alleged on Sunday that a Myanmar government airstrike killed 28 people, including children, and injured 25 at a temporary detention camp in western Rakhine state.
In a heated battle with the military for control of Rakhine, the Arakan Army (AA) has taken large areas of land in the last 12 months, effectively sealing off Sittwe, the state capital.
The terrible anarchy that has overtaken Myanmar since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian administration in a coup in 2021, leading to a massive armed uprising, including the Rakhine conflict.
Around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, the AA said on its Telegram channel that a military plane had targeted a detention facility in Mrauk-U Township where the AA was holding relatives of junta troops.
ASEAN leaders want the Myanmar regime to put a ceasefire ahead of new elections.
Family members of Myanmar Army personnel were among those slain and injured. In the post, the AA stated, “We arrested them during fighting.”
The AA asserted, “They were bombed while we were planning a plan to release them.”
It stated that nine children, including a two-year-old boy, were among the deceased. The AA posted a list of the deceased, and the other people killed were women.
The military has been frequently accused of deploying artillery and airstrikes to target civilian towns, and it is fighting against opposition to its control on several fronts throughout Myanmar.
The strike in Mrauk-U Township may have been misdirected, or the junta may not have realized the region was being utilized as a prison facility for soldiers’ families and the youth-led “People’s Defence Forces” that formed to resist the coup. Numerous well-established and well-equipped ethnic minority armed groups are also being fought by the military.
Large tracts of land along Myanmar’s borders are under the jurisdiction of these organizations, which include the AA.
Prior to this, the UNDP had warned that Rakhine was on the verge of famine as violence slowed down trade and agricultural output. According to the UN, the violence in Myanmar has displaced over 3.5 million people this month, up 1.5 million from the previous year.
Junta instructed to put a ceasefire first. At a summit in Malaysia on Sunday, foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urged Myanmar’s junta to put a halt to its civil conflict ahead of new elections.
We do know that they want to hold an election. Following the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told reporters, “But we told them that election is not a priority at the moment.” “A ceasefire and everyone’s cooperation are the top priorities right now. It’s so easy,” Mohamad remarked.
Malaysia is the 10-member ASEAN’s rotating chair this year. Aung Kyaw Moe, a senior civil servant in the foreign ministry, represented Myanmar on Sunday after the regional bloc refused to allow junta members to attend its meetings.