Junta airstrike kills 21 POWs, family members at Kyauktaw detention centre

By Admin 21 Jan 2026

DMG Newsroom

21 January 2026, Kyauktaw

Myanmar’s military regime carried out an airstrike on a detention centre holding prisoners of war (POWs) and their family members near Chaungtu Village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, killing 21 people and injuring 30 others, according to local sources.

The attack occurred at around 7:30 pm on January 20, when a junta jet fighter dropped four bombs on the site. The explosions hit dormitories and a clinic where POWs and their families were staying, causing mass casualties.

An official at the Chaungtu detention centre told DMG that two of the bombs struck the clinic where injured detainees were receiving treatment, while the others hit the POW dormitory and a nearby family dormitory.

“Four prisoners were killed and six injured in the clinic. Thirteen were killed and 16 injured in the POW dormitory. Four family members were killed and eight injured,” the official said.

The Arakan Army is providing medical treatment to the injured, including five people who sustained serious wounds, the official added.

Daw Thazin Cho, the wife of the commander of the military’s No. 377 Artillery Battalion in Kyauktaw, said detainee families faced dire conditions as the airstrike took place at night.

“It was nighttime, so it was very scary. All the doors to the rooms were closed and locked when the bombing happened,” she said. “After the first bomb fell, people wanted to get out of the bunker, but they were shouting for someone to open it because there was no key. Some of the evacuees from the men’s dormitory were later released, so they survived.”

She urged military leaders to show humanitarian consideration for captured soldiers’ family members during the conflict.

Thousands of junta soldiers and their families who surrendered during the Arakan Army’s offensive to seize control of Arakan State are being held at various locations. Some detainees and family members have been released in batches by the Arakan Army.

Private Tay Zar Lin, a POW injured in the airstrike, said such attacks should not be carried out against detainees and their families.

“This should never be done. There are children, women and elderly people here who still have lives and livelihoods,” he said.

According to DMG data, the military has bombed four detention camps in Pauktaw, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships between September 2024 and January 2026.

On September 8, 2024, a jet fighter attacked a POW detention camp near Shinywa Village in Pauktaw Township, killing 17 detainees and injuring 10 others.

The following day, an airstrike near 4th-Mile Village in Maungdaw Township killed 60 POWs and detainees and wounded many others.

On January 18, 2025, the military bombed a camp housing POW family members in Yanchaung Village, Mrauk-U Township, killing 28 women and children and injuring another 28 people.

Despite having lost control of most territory in Arakan State, the military regime continues to conduct airstrikes on areas under Arakan Army control, including civilian areas, prisons and detention centres, resulting in mounting civilian and detainee casualties.