KYAUKTAW, (Myanmar): A Myanmar military airstrike has killed seven civilians including a five-year-old child in the country's conflict-ravaged west, a witness and a rescue worker said Thursday (June 18).
Civil war engulfed Myanmar in 2021 when the military staged a coup, ending a decade-long democratic interlude and deposing the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military's air force furnished with Chinese and Russian jets has been key to fending off opposing pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic minority armies, but rights groups say they often strike civilians.
Local rescue worker Naing Win Lwin said from around 3:00 pm (0830 GMT) on Wednesday a trio of jets dropped nine bombs around the town of Kyauktaw in the western state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh.
He said seven people including the young child were killed and 15 people were wounded.
A Myanmar military spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
In Kyauktaw, the ruins of buildings were charred and still smouldering on Thursday as shopkeeper Htay Htay recounted losing her husband among the seven fatalities.
"I even went to check the places that were on fire, but I could not find him. I didn't realise he was inside our house," said the 48-year-old.
"It seems he entered the house to look for me during the strike. Only later, when they brought out his body, did I find him," she added. "I have no words to say."
Rakhine is controlled almost entirely by ethnic minority faction the Arakan Army, which is also accused of committing atrocities in the civil war.
Outside Rakhine, however, analysts say the military is on the front foot and has placed the state under a blockade compounding the war's effects with a humanitarian crisis.
Myanmar was ruled directly by the military for five years after the coup, before the junta held deeply restricted polls which this year delivered a walkover win for its allies in civilian politics.
New MPs elected coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as president in a transition which democracy watchdogs derided as a ploy to rebrand his continuing rule.
Min Aung Hlaing is currently on a five-day trip to China, where he is enjoying red-carpet treatment on his first full state visit since the election vocally backed by Beijing.
China "firmly supports the Myanmar side in realizing national peace and stability, national reconciliation, social harmony and lasting peace", according to a joint statement late Wednesday. - AFP
