13 civilians were killed and about 20 others were injured in a junta airstrike on the Arakan Army (AA) controlled Tun Yawai Village in Rathedaung Township, Arakan (Rakhine) State.
At around 10:00 am on 13 May 2025, a fighter jet dropped a 500 pound bomb on the village that caused casualties and damaged several houses.
A witness said to DMG: “Women and children were among those killed and wounded.”
The identities of those killed and injured in the airstrike is still being collated and the wounded have been taken to nearby medical facilities for treatment.
Many displaced people (IDPs) who had fled from Sittwe, Rathedaung, and Ponnagyun townships had been sheltering in Tun Yawai Village. Following the junta airstrike on the village both locals and IDPs staying in the village have become fearful and feel insecure staying there.
The junta airstrikes happened despite the junta declaring a unilateral ceasefire from 6 to 31 May 2025, to allow for further earthquake relief efforts.
But, this is not the only time the junta has ignored its own ceasefire. For example, also on 13 May, at about 4:00 am, the junta launched a drone strike on Leik Kha Maw Village in Kyaukphyu Township to the south east of Ponnagyun Township that caused a fire that damaged a building at the village monastery.
Since the junta’s ceasefire allegedly started on 6 May, the junta has continuously violated it by launching daily attacks on villages, schools, monasteries, IDP camps, hospitals, and clinics, according to Captain Zin Yaw, a former junta army officer who joined the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
He said: “As the junta faced setbacks, it started attacking the public in retaliation for its losses. It endured almost everyday defeats in ground combat against resistance forces, and in response, it increased its strikes on schools, IDP camps, monasteries, hospitals, and clinics—places where only unarmed civilians are present. I believe the terrorist junta, enraged by its failures, is now taking its anger out on the public, with no connection to military objectives.”
There has been widespread criticism of the way the junta has been violating people’s human rights by targeting civilian areas where there is no fighting.
