The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF has expressed alarm over reports of Myanmar military air strikes this week that a rebel group and local media said inflicted large civilian casualties, as a civil war rages around the country. Paramotors dropped bombs on a village in the central Sagaing region on Monday and a fighter jet conducted an air strike in Rakhine state, 320 kilometers to the west of that incident a day later, killing at least two dozen people in total, Myanmar Now and the Irrawaddy reported.
The Arakan Army, a rebel group at war with the ruling junta in Rakhine state, said 17 civilians including children were killed and 14 people wounded when the jet bombed a busy village market.
Reuters has been unable to independently verify the reports and a spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government did not respond to calls seeking comment.
UNICEF said it was “deeply alarmed” by the reports and urged all sides in Myanmar’s conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.
“Children and civilians are once again bearing the brunt of escalating hostilities,” it said in a statement. “Ongoing clashes continue to displace children and upend their access to vital services, including health care, education and protection.”
Air power escalation
Myanmar has been roiled by conflict that ignited after generals seized power in a 2021 coup, with the military battling rebels in multiple parts of the ethnically diverse country of 51 million people, which has a long history of struggles for autonomy and resistance to army rule. About 6,800 civilians have been killed and 3.6 million people displaced in the turmoil, according to UN estimates, creating one of Asia’s worst humanitarian crises, with food and aid shortages affecting 40 percent of the population. The military last year significantly escalated its use of air power through conventional aircraft, drones and paramotors — crewed paragliders that seat up to three people to drop bombs on targets. The junta rejects allegations by rights groups, the UN and western governments that it is bombing residential areas, schools and hospitals and says its operations target armed groups determined to destabilize the country.
Khaing Thu Kha, an Arakan Army spokesperson, said the military’s air strikes were inhumane acts and the killing of civilians was not an unintended consequence.
“Targeting and bombing civilian sites by the military is no longer an isolated occurrence … We have seen a high frequency of deliberate attacks on civilians,” Khaing Thu Kha said.
UNICEF alarmed over reports of deadly Myanmar air strikes on civilians
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UNICEF alarmed over reports of deadly Myanmar air strikes on civilians
- Local media say at least two dozen people killed in two military attacks this week
- Junta has denied targeting civilians, says operations are against armed groups
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
