The junta has intensified its airstrikes and drone attacks on territories controlled by the Arakan Army (AA) across Arakan (Rakhine) State, with reports indicating a growing number of civilian casualties, according to local sources.
On the morning of May 28, junta aircraft bombed a road repair site on the border between Ramree and Kyaukphyu townships. The attack reportedly killed three people, including a backhoe operator, and injured seven others.
“That section of the road was being repaired because it had become too damaged for vehicles to use. The junta aircraft dropped bombs right while the repair work was underway,” a Ramree resident said.
According to local accounts, the junta deployed four military aircraft in the attack—two fighter jets and two Y-12 utility aircraft—which dropped more than 30 bombs on the area. Several of the injured are reportedly in critical condition.
Later that same evening, four junta aircraft carried out another bombing raid on mountain ranges near Kyeinkhwaymaaw Village in Pauktaw Township. The village is situated on the bank of the Kaladan River, directly opposite Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.
Meanwhile, the junta's Taungmawoo naval station in Kyaukphyu Township has been conducting drone attacks on Sane Town in the same township. On May 28, drones dropped six bombs on Shwe Hinthar Ward in downtown Sane, according to local sources.
Drone strikes on May 27 reportedly set fire to and destroyed eight homes in Sane Town. In an earlier attack on May 26, a 78-year-old resident, U Maung Shwe Sein, was killed.
The junta navy has also subjected Sane Town to repeated artillery shelling, destroying at least 10 houses. Earlier, on May 19, a junta airstrike involving multiple warplanes targeted Shwe Hinthar Ward, leaving approximately 100 homes engulfed in flames.
Clashes between the junta and the AA remain intense in Kyaukphyu Township, where civilian communities are increasingly bearing the brunt of indiscriminate air, drone, and naval attacks by regime forces, residents said.
As fighting escalates, residents of Sane Town and nearby villages have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in safer locations.
Military and political analysts believe the regime's intensified air campaign is deliberately targeting civilians to pressure the AA into negotiations.
“In the fighting in northern Shan State, local ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) eventually chose to submit and enter negotiations with the regime because they could no longer withstand the airstrikes. I think the junta is trying to create the same situation here in Arakan State. However, the terrain and regional circumstances are very different. In my view, this strategy will only lead to an increase in the regime’s war crimes without producing any other significant change,” a military observer in Arakan State said.
At present, the junta maintains control of only three townships in Arakan State—Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung—while active fighting continues in both Sittwe and Kyaukphyu townships.
The regime has suffered significant military setbacks on the Kyaukphyu front. To counter the AA offensive, it has deployed gyrocopters and motorized parachutes, known as paramotors, to Kyaukphyu and Manaung townships, where training flights reportedly commenced on May 25.
