September 29: At least 50 people were killed and 58 wounded when a Myanmar military airstrike hit a busy riverside market in Kyauktaw town in western Rakhine state on Monday, aid workers and the Arakan Army said. It is one of the deadliest single attacks on civilians in Myanmar’s civil war in recent years. The military could not be reached for comment.
Key highlights
- Where: A riverside market and an adjacent bridge in Kyauktaw, Rakhine state. According to AFP, the market is a major trading hub on a river route to India.
- When: Monday, September 28, around midday local time (0530 GMT).
- Toll: 50 killed and 58 injured, according to aid worker Wai Hun Aung and a second local volunteer who spoke to AFP. The Arakan Army said 22 of the injured were in critical condition.
- Victims: The Arakan Army (AA) described the dead as passers-by, market vendors, shoppers and cargo loaders working at the river port.
- Military response: AFP said it had not been possible to contact Myanmar’s military for comment.
What happened
Early reports put the death toll at around 30. It rose through Monday night and Tuesday as bodies were recovered from the market area, and the Arakan Army said 49 bodies had been recovered before the figure reached 50. “The death toll has reached 50, and 58 people were injured,” Wai Hun Aung told AFP, adding that the final count could rise further.
Reports from Bangladesh-based Views Bangladesh said the strike was carried out by a fighter jet. An Arakan Army spokesman accused the military of deliberately targeting densely populated markets, schools and civilians, Reuters reported. “Civilians are being unjustly murdered, and I can’t bear to watch it,” Aung Chay, a 49-year-old survivor, told AFP.
Why Kyauktaw matters
The Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group, now controls nearly all of Rakhine state apart from a few military-held urban centres, and the junta has relied heavily on air power against areas it has lost. Since the 2021 coup cut much of Rakhine off from central Myanmar, Kyauktaw’s riverside market has served as a lifeline for trade coming up the river from the Indian side, AFP reported.
Kyauktaw lies on the Kaladan River, which is also the route of India’s Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. That project is meant to link Kolkata to Mizoram through Sittwe port and a river and road corridor through Rakhine and Chin states, and the fighting there has long complicated it. On India’s side of the border, security forces remain on alert. On Tuesday, an Assam Rifles soldier was killed and four were injured when suspected militants attacked a patrol near the Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district (read our report in Hindi).
The wider toll
Myanmar has been at war with itself since the military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021. According to data from the conflict monitor ACLED cited by AFP, more than 100,000 people have been killed nationwide since the coup, and AFP reported that nearly 500,000 people are displaced in Rakhine alone. AFP described the Kyauktaw strike as among the deadliest airstrikes on civilians since 2022. Rights groups have repeatedly accused the military of bombing markets, schools and villages, which the junta denies.
What to watch
The toll may rise further because 22 of the injured are in critical condition, according to the Arakan Army. Watch whether the junta responds to the accusations, whether the UN and ASEAN react, and whether river trade between Rakhine and India is disrupted further.
Sources
- Malay Mail (AFP): Myanmar market airstrike death toll hits 50, aid workers say
- Kuwait Times (AFP): Myanmar airstrike on market kills 50
- Reuters (via US News): Death toll from Myanmar airstrike in Rakhine state rises to 50
- Views Bangladesh: Myanmar airstrike on Rakhine market kills 50, injures 58
The International Desk covers world and Asian affairs, diplomacy and conflict, with a focus on what they mean for India. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
