KYAUKTAW, Myanmar (AFP): A military airstrike on a market in western Myanmar killed 33 people on Monday and wounded 36 more, a rebel faction which controls the area said in a statement.
The Arakan Army said the death toll of the strike around midday (0530 GMT) on a market and adjacent bridge in Kyauktaw town of Rakhine state "may continue to increase".
A witness who requested anonymity for safety reasons saw more than 30 bodies at the scene on Monday afternoon, where human remains were visible among smouldering wreckage and cratered roads.
It was not possible to reach the military for comment.
The western state of Rakhine is witnessing some of the direst conditions in Myanmar's civil war which was unleashed by a 2021 military coup.
Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the Myanmar government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government has previously said the military “exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm”.
The Arakan Army and Wai Hun Aung said the air strike at Kyauktaw was among the deadliest such incidents in Rakhine since an aerial attack at a hospital in the west of the state in December 2025 that killed at least 30 people.
