Myanmar Regime Ramps Up Civilian Airstrikes as ASEAN Envoy Visits

Residents survey a bridge destroyed by regime airstrikes in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State on Sunday. / AA Info Desk

by Myo Pyae

Myanmar’s military regime continued bombing civilian targets even as it hosted ASEAN’s special envoy last week, killing more than a dozen people and wounding over 50 across four days.

Special Envoy Maria Theresa Lazaro visited the southern Shan State capital of Taungyi on an October 28-30 humanitarian mission, meeting the regime’s foreign minister during her trip.

Meanwhile, The Irrawaddy recorded nine regime airstrikes from October 29 to November 1, resulting in 16 deaths and 51 injuries. Over half of the attacks occurred in Rakhine State, which is almost entirely controlled by the ethnic Arakan Army (AA).

On Sunday, regime warplanes targeted Rakhine’s Kyaukphyu, a hub for China-backed projects and gas pipelines, along with AA-controlled townships of Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, and Mrauk-U.

In Mrauk-U, five people including a baby were killed and nine wounded when cluster bombs shattered a temporary maternity clinic.

The clinic was established after a December 10 bombing raid destroyed Mrauk-U District Hospital, killing at least 33 patients, caregivers and medical staff and injuring around 70.

Sunday’s airstrikes killed at total of 12 civilians and injured 32 others across Rakhine, according to an AA statement.

They came two days after the Arakan Civil Society Charitable Organizations (ACSO) and a coalition of 70 local and international Rakhine groups called on the UN Security Council, ASEAN, international governments, and global humanitarian agencies to enforce a no-fly zone over Rakhine State.

Regime airstrikes since ASEAN Special Envoy Maria Lazaro arrived in the country last Wednesday.

In Karenni State’s Loikaw, three children were killed and eight injured when two regime fighter jets and a Y-12 aircraft bombed their school in Wanngawt village as holiday meals were being served on Sunday.

Any hope of a break in the bombing campaign as the regime pushes for regional reintegration was shattered the day Lazaro arrived. As the special envoy touched down on Wednesday, blasts hit Tawkyaunglay village monastery in Sagaing’s Chaung-U Township, where around 60 worshippers were gathered for Patthana chanting. The attack wounded a 57-year-old monk. Bombs struck a former prisoner-of-war camp in Chin State’s Hakha on the same day, but no casualties were reported.

On Saturday, an airstrike on a temporary shelter at Thaezalauk village monastery in Sagaing’s Homalin Township left seven displaced people injured. The attack came shortly after resistance forces captured the local regime outpost. Elsewhere in Sagaing, a woman was killed and three residents injured when a pair of gyrocopters attacked Duhtauk village in Salingyi Township despite the absence of clashes on the ground.

Human rights activists criticized Lazaro’s visit as bid to create an image of a cooperative, humanitarian-minded regime to mask the reality of daily civilian atrocities and mass displacement.

According to data collected by the parallel National Unity Government, a total of 6,467 civilians have died in regime airstrikes since the February 2021 coup.