By: Camp Correspondent
Kyauktaw, Rakhine State — May 16, 2025
For the second day in a row, the Myanmar military junta has conducted deadly airstrikes on civilian neighborhoods in Kyauktaw Town, killing at least eight civilians and injuring 14 others, according to local sources and humanitarian monitors.
On May 15, junta fighter jets carried out three bombing runs targeting Ywar Ma Ward—a densely populated residential area—at 1:58 p.m., 2:05 p.m., and 2:14 p.m. The attacks killed five civilians, including a woman in her 60s and four elderly men, and left nine others wounded.
Just a day earlier, on May 14, three women were killed and five others injured in a separate strike on the same town.
“The bombs hit near homes where people were hiding from the heat,” said a local rescue volunteer.
“Many of the injured are elderly. Some are in critical condition.”
The Arakan Army (AA) strongly condemned the airstrikes, calling them “cruel and deliberate acts” that constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a statement, the AA extended condolences to the victims’ families and announced plans to report the incidents to international human rights bodies.
Human rights organizations have also raised alarm, noting that the targeting of residential areas and civilian populations violates the Geneva Conventions and reflects the junta’s ongoing use of indiscriminate violence to terrorize communities in conflict zones.
These repeated attacks come despite the junta’s declared ceasefire until May 31 in response to the recent earthquake, further undermining the credibility of any humanitarian gestures made by the military.
“It’s not just bombs—it’s the erasure of daily life,” said a resident of Ywar Ma. “People no longer sleep indoors. They fear the sky.”
With the civilian death toll rising, local communities in Kyauktaw and other parts of northern and central Rakhine are calling for urgent international intervention and independent investigations into junta airstrikes targeting non-combatant populations.
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