KYAUKTAW: A military airstrike on a market in western Myanmar killed 33 people on Monday and wounded 36 more, a rebel faction which controls the area said in a statement.

The Arakan Army said the death toll of the strike around midday on a market and adjacent bridge in Kyauktaw town of Rakhine state “may continue to increase”.

A witness who requested anonymity for safety reasons saw more than 30 bodies at the scene on Monday afternoon, where human remains were visible among smouldering wreckage and cratered roads. It was not possible to reach the military for comment.

Khaing Nu said her younger sister — a market vendor — remained missing in the aftermath as firefighters doused flames and recovered bodies were laid out in ranks under green plastic sheeting.

“When I went to check the place where my younger sister sells fruits at the market, neither the place nor herself were there anymore,” said the 57-year-old.

“I don’t even know where to go. I also feel worried for my younger sister’s little daughter, who has been left behind. Whenever I think about the future, my heart hurts.” The western state of Rakhine is witnessing some of the direst conditions in Myanmar’s civil war which was unleashed by a 2021 military coup.

Vital trade route cut off

The market area hit on Monday has become a hive of commercial activity since the conflict broke out.

It is on the banks of a river crossing the Indian border, providing a vital trade route for a state which has become largely cut off to the rest of Myanmar — suffering increasing hunger and poverty.

“When I heard that fighter jets were coming, I crouched and hid near the guard post,” 49-year-old Khin Myint Chay said. “A short while later, I heard an explosion. After that, I lost my hearing for a while.”

The AA control almost all of Rakhine, save a handful of urban areas occupied by the besieged armed forces. But the military is able to fend them off with its fleet of fighter jets manufactured by Russia and China.

The air wing is also accused of committing atrocities targeting civilians at schools, monasteries and religious festivals — attacks rights groups say may constitute war crimes.

Nearly half-a-million people are living displaced in Rakhine as a result of the conflict, according to UN data.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Myanmar in conflict since the 2021 putsch unseated Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, according to conflict monitor ACLED.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup triggered a civil war, with a collection of armed groups — including the Arakan Army — fighting the military across multiple frontlines.

“This location is quite far from the fighting and has nothing to do with the conflict,” said Wai Hun Aung, referring to Kyauktaw, a riverside town located in the north of the state.

The Arakan Army and Wai Hun Aung said the airstrike at Kyauktaw was among the deadliest such incidents in Rakhine since an aerial attack at a hospital in the west of the state last December that killed at least 30 people.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026