Myanmar airstrike kills 12 at Rakhine camp, witnesses say

Witnesses and a rescue worker said a Myanmar military airstrike killed 12 people and injured 18 at Byar La displaced persons camp in Rakhine state on Friday evening.

The strike hit the camp in Ponnagyun township, northeast of the state capital Sittwe. Chit Su Wai, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, said her daughter, aunt and mother were killed and that she did not hear a fighter jet before bombs were dropped.

Khine Hein Htet, chairman of the Phyusin Yin Khwin Foundation rescue service, said a five-year-old was among the dead and that many residents had lived in the camp for four years. He said the camp was not a combat area.

Aung Kyaw Min, a tuktuk driver, said his brother, sister and mother were killed, while other relatives, including a 10-year-old, were missing.

Myanmar has been in civil war since the military staged a coup five years ago. Rakhine state is controlled almost entirely by the ethnic minority Arakan Army, has been blockaded by the military and has been hit by regular airstrikes. The ACLED monitor estimates that more than 100,000 people have been killed on all sides since the civil war began.