Myanmar military airstrikes on camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine State have killed eight people over two days, a rebel group and a youth association said on Monday, a week after an aerial attack in the same state killed 50.
On Sunday, an airstrike hit a camp for internally displaced people in Rakhine’s Ponnagyun township at around 5 p.m. (1030 GMT), killing six people and injuring 11 others, according to spokespersons for the Arakan Army and the Ponnagyun Youth Association
On Monday morning, both groups said another airstrike hit a second camp in the same township, killing two people and injuring two others
“Everyone there is a displaced civilian,” said Kyaw Win Tun, a spokesperson for the Ponnagyun Youth Association, referring to inhabitants of both the camps that were hit
A Myanmar government spokesperson did not immediately comment on the airstrikes. The government has previously said the military “exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm”
Reuters could not independently verify the details of the incidents
Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has become a key battleground in war-torn Myanmar, with the Arakan Army controlling much of the coastal state and the military pushing to win back territory
Myanmar’s civil war, which began after the military seized power in 2021, has killed around 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million
A week earlier, military airstrikes near a market in Rakhine’s Kyauktaw killed 50 people and wounded at least 58, drawing international condemnation
