Dozens of IDP casualties reported in junta airstrike on Thandwe

By Admin 26 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
26 September 2024, Thandwe

At least 14 civilians including children were killed and 25 others were injured in a junta airstrike on Thandwe in Arakan State on Thursday.

The civilian casualties were reported after two junta jet fighters dropped bombs on Thandwe, hitting the town hall and the office for the township Department of Environmental Conservation at around 8 a.m. on September 26.

"Two junta jet fighters bombed the town hall and the office for the township Department of Environmental Conservation in Thandwe where internally displaced people (IDPs) are taking refuge this morning. IDPs were massacred in the regime air assault," said a resident of Thandwe.

The injured are receiving medical treatment at the local hospital and some are said to be in critical condition.

The regime has increasingly carried out airstrikes on residential areas and displacement camps in Thandwe Township, which was seized by the Arakkha Army (AA) earlier this month.

Three civilians including a child were killed and three others were injured in a junta aerial attack on Pauktu Village, Thandwe Township, on September 23. A regime air attack on Hsingaung Village in Thandwe Township injured four residents on September 3.

The Myanmar regime, which is facing the growing likelihood of total defeat in its war on the Arakan front, has appeared indifferent to the distinction between civilian and military targets as its territory shrinks, resulting in many civilian casualties. Critics say indifferent is a generous interpretation of what might otherwise be described as a campaign of terror waged against civilian populations in the warzone.

"The regime's targeting of civilian shelters is a blatant war crime and a violation of the Geneva Conventions," said U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the AA.

About 80 civilian casualties have been reported so far this month across Arakan State's Myebon, Pauktaw, Taungup, Thandwe, Gwa, and Ponnagyun townships, according to a DMG tally.