At least 33 people were killed and 36 injured when Myanmar military airstrikes hit a market and bridge in Kyauktaw, Rakhine State, on Monday, September 28, according to the Arakan Army (AA), the ethnic armed group that controls the town. Aid worker Wai Hun Aung, who has a team operating in the area, independently corroborated the toll to Reuters. Reuters said it could not independently verify the details.
Three airstrikes struck the area around midday local time (approximately 05:30 GMT), hitting the "Indian Market" and the adjacent Kissapanadi Bridge over the Kaladan River, the AA said in a Telegram statement issued around 17:00 local time (10:30 GMT). The group said the death toll "may continue to increase."
Scene of destruction, rising toll
Wai Hun Aung told Reuters the location "is quite far from the fighting and has nothing to do with the conflict." AFP interviewed an anonymous eyewitness who described seeing more than 30 bodies at the scene Monday afternoon, with human remains visible among smoldering wreckage and cratered roads. The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), citing residents, reported that Kyauktaw's entry gates and public markets were closed Monday. DVB quoted a resident saying: "Targeting a civilian area where there's no ongoing conflict is a war crime." That assessment is the resident's characterization, not a confirmed legal finding.
Observers are reading: the territorial and infrastructure calculations behind the junta's shift to airstrikes as its ground control collapses.
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What is confirmed and what remains open
The Arakan Army and aid worker Wai Hun Aung have both put the death toll at 33, with the AA warning it may rise. Naypyidaw has issued no comment as of publication. Reuters could not independently verify the figures. Crisis.Zone previously covered the civil war's civilian toll in reporting on a mining explosion in Shan State that killed at least 55 in June.
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