Myanmar: Junta Airstrikes on Civilians in Rakhine May Constitute a War Crime

 

Junta airstrike on a civilian market and residential area kills dozens, including children, in Kyauktaw Township as attacks escalate ©AA Info Desk, 2026. Click here or on the image to read in your browser. Share Tweet

(BANGKOK, October 2, 2026)—The Myanmar military junta carried out multiple airstrikes on several civilian areas in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State on Monday this week, including on a public market. The September 28 bombing of the market reportedly killed at least 50 civilians and wounded more than 50 others, including both ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya residents, in an attack that appears to be yet another war crime, said Fortify Rights today. “The Myanmar military junta's deliberate bombing of a crowded market and civilian areas is an open commission of a war crime,” said Lynn Htet, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. “The deaths in Kyauktaw are not simply numbers.  They are the predictable result of an ongoing nationwide military campaign that targets civilians. Countries supplying weapons and jet fuel must cut off their supplies, which enable these attacks.”  The Myanmar military junta has lost control of 14 of the 17 townships in Rakhine State to the Arakan Army (AA), and it has intensified airstrikes on civilian areas across the state in response to its territorial losses. The airstrike on the Kyauktaw Indian Market and surrounding areas appears to have been conducted intentionally during the busiest shopping hours of the day, causing heavy civilian casualties. On the same day, the junta carried out airstrikes across three other townships—Ponnagyun, Minbya, and Thandwe townships—killing or wounding at least one hundred people. More airstrikes were reported in Kyauktaw yesterday as well.    Fortify Rights analyzed casualty lists, photographs, and videos from the attacks. Videos of the aftermath, posted on social media, show a burning market, the dead bodies of civilians on the adjacent Kissapanadi Bridge, and bereaved civilians mourning the losses of family members and loved ones. Those killed include a nine-month pregnant woman whose unborn baby was also killed.   At least two bomb-craters are visible in available footage, one in the market and a second on the bridge, and the bombing appears to have caused a large fire, which burned many of the victims alive. Bodies of civilians following a Myanmar military airstrike on a crowded market and nearby bridge in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, on September 28, 2026. ©AA Info Desk, September 28, 2026 A 28-year-old eyewitness told Fortify Rights: I was at home when the junta jets came and dropped several bombs in our town [Kyauktaw]. It shook the ground. I put my hands over my ears as the explosion was loud and scary. Half an hour later, I saw smoke coming from nearby places, and people screaming. I realized there were many casualties. Later, I found out several of my relatives were killed as well. It is heartbreaking to see my relatives and neighbors get killed by the Myanmar military. In a September 28 statement, the United League of Arakan (ULA) said the junta’s attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure had become “routine and habitual war crimes,” citing attacks on hospitals, clinics, schools, markets, densely populated villages, and urban wards. The ULA said the attacks were part of a broader pattern of aerial attacks against civilian areas across Rakhine State and Myanmar. The Myanmar military junta has continued to carry out airstrikes nationwide under General Ye Win Oo, who became Commander-in-Chief in March 2026 after replacing junta and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The leadership change followed a widely criticized military-controlled election held in late 2025 and early 2026, which sought to give civilian legitimacy to continued military rule.   Reports have also emerged that Rohingya civilians were among those killed in the Myanmar military junta’s attack. Despite provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requiring Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from genocidal acts, the junta has continued to carry out airstrikes that have killed and injured Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State. The ICJ may deliver its judgment in the coming months in The Gambia v. Myanmar, the historic genocide case concerning Myanmar’s alleged violations of the Genocide Convention against the Rohingya, which was filed in 2019. On September 29, 2026, the U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said, “The strikes underline the grave plight faced by civilians across the country, but none more so than in Rakhine State.” A market destroyed by a Myanmar military airstrike in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, on September 28, 2026. ©AA Info Desk, September 28, 2026 International humanitarian law requires parties to an armed conflict to distinguish at all times between military objectives and civilians and civilian objects. Direct attacks on civilian objects, including civilian markets, residential places, and attacks on legitimate military objects that are expected to cause excessive civilian harm in relation to the anticipated military advantage, are strictly prohibited. Under international humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, parties involved in an armed conflict are required to distinguish between combatants and “military objectives,” which may be subjected to military attack, and civilians and “civilian objects,” such as homes and hospitals that are not being used for military purposes, which are protected from military attacks. Fortify Rights has documented the Myanmar military’s expanding campaign of aerial attacks against civilians throughout the country, targeting numerous areas that are protected under international law, including medical facilities, schools, places of worship, markets, and displaced persons camps, all of which lacked any military presence nearby. Attacks documented by Fortify Rights include airstrikes in Kachin and Karenni states, attacks on civilian areas ahead of the junta’s 2025 elections, and the use of paramotors and gyrocopters to attack civilians. Fortify Rights also documented airstrikes on civilian sites in Bago Region and on a detention center in Karenni State. The consistent targeting of these protected civilian sites strongly suggests that the attacks are deliberate and constitute a more serious breach of the laws of war than indiscriminate attacks, said Fortify Rights. “U.N. member states should accelerate efforts to hold the Myanmar criminal military accountable for genocide and war crimes before the International Criminal Court and all other possible venues, sooner rather than later,” said Lynn Htet. “The inaction and impunity for the well-documented atrocities are costing more and more innocent lives, enabling perpetrators to commit further grave crimes against civilians in Myanmar. This impunity must end.”