Myanmar junta airstrikes kill 12 civilians in Rakhine State
Myanmar military airstrikes killed 12 civilians and injured 32 others across western Myanmar’s Rakhine State on November 1, underscoring the escalating danger faced by civilians as the junta attempts to retake territory from the Arakan Army (AA). Seven people were killed and seven injured when a bomb struck Yo Chaung Bridge in Kyauktaw Township. At roughly the same time, an attack on a temporary maternity clinic in Mrauk-U killed five people, including a newborn baby, and injured nine.
The attacks followed the launch of the junta’s “Yan Naing Min” offensive on September 4. The military is seeking to recover Rakhine State, nearly 90% of which is reportedly controlled by the AA, an Ethnic Armed Organisation. Since the February 1, 2021 coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, Myanmar has been consumed by civil war between the junta, pro-democracy armed groups and ethnic armed organisations. ACLED estimated in July 2026 that more than 100,000 people had been killed in the conflict.
The military has also been accused of using “double-tap” strikes: attacking a target again shortly after the first strike, when civilians and rescuers are likely to be present. In one October 4 attack on a displacement camp near Ponnagyun, two consecutive strikes killed six civilians and injured 11. The Myanmar Defense & Security Institute recorded 144 civilians killed or injured by airstrikes in Rakhine State in September, including at least 50 deaths and 58 injuries in an attack on India Market and Kissapanadi Bridge on September 28. Almost all of the 58 September airstrikes documented by Myanmar Witness targeted civilian infrastructure or property.
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