A Myanmar military airstrike killed five civilians and injured 14 others, including a Buddhist monk and three children, in a southern Rakhine State town on Sunday.
The attack is part of an intensifying bombing campaign that human rights groups say systematically targets residential areas with no active fighting.
A military junta jet fighter dropped three 500-pound bombs on Ma-Ei, a town in Taungup Township, at approximately 11:30 a.m. on July 19, according to residents who spoke to Narinjara News.
"It was terrifying and instantly chaotic," a resident said, adding that several of the wounded children remain in critical condition.
Local sources identified the five deceased victims—all residents of the town's Ward No. 2—as teenagers Maung Htun Lin Zaw, 17, Ma La Pyae San, 19, and Ko Nyi Nyi Htwe, 19, alongside Daw Mumu Htay, 35, and U Nyi Nyi Zaw, 34. The 14 wounded victims, including a 47-year-old monk and children as young as 10, are currently receiving emergency medical treatment.
The deadly strike in Taungup is the latest in a surge of daily aerial bombardments across Rakhine State by the military regime led by Min Aung Hlaing.
The escalation directly defies sustained diplomatic pressure from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urging the junta to cease violence against civilians.
In neighboring Gwa Township, heavy bombardments have terrorized residential areas over the past week, often striking near flood-affected villages.
On July 14, four bombs struck Kin Yon Ward, injuring a civilian and damaging homes. This followed a massive joint assault on July 13, when a military jet fighter and a Y-12 transport aircraft dropped more than 50 bombs on Kwe Township.
Earlier on July 10, airstrikes on Gwa’s Kala Chaung Village and a school in Pauk Tu Village killed four civilians, destroying homes and educational infrastructure.
As the military regime continues to lose ground to ethnic resistance forces across the country, humanitarian groups warn that the junta has increasingly resorted to retaliatory airstrikes on populated towns and villages, driving up civilian casualties and displacing thousands.
