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Myanmar attack: Myanmar’s army carried out a massive air attack on a hospital. 34 people were killed and 80 were injured in the attack. This hospital was under the control of the rebel armed forces of the country.
Myanmar attack: Myanmar’s army carried out a massive air attack on a hospital. 34 people were killed and 80 were injured in the attack. This hospital was under the control of the rebel armed forces of the country. The dead include patients and medical staff. About 80 people were injured in an attack on the General Hospital located in Mrauk-U township in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state under the control of the rebel Arakan Army on Wednesday night. Y Hun Aung, a senior official in Rakhine’s rescue services, told The Associated Press that a fighter plane dropped two bombs at 9:13 p.m., one of which landed in a hospital recovery ward and the other near the hospital’s main building. He told that they reached the hospital early on Thursday for help, where 17 women and 17 men died. He said the bombs destroyed most of the hospital building and also damaged taxis and motorcycles parked near the hospital. Rakhine-based online media posted photos and videos of damaged buildings and debris, including medical equipment.
Arakan captures 14 towns
Y Hun Aung said the hospital has been the main source of healthcare for the people of Rakhine, where most hospitals have been closed due to Myanmar’s ongoing civil war. It was reopened after doctors gathered in Mrauk-U and provided essential medical services. Mrauk-U, located 530 kilometers northwest of Yangon, the country’s largest city, was captured by the Arakan Army in February last year. The Arakan Army is the trained and equipped military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which demands autonomy from Myanmar’s central government. It launched its offensive in Rakhine in November 2023 and has captured a strategically important regional army headquarters and 14 out of 17 towns in Rakhine. Rakhine was earlier known as Arakan. In 2017 it was the site of an army counter-terrorism operation, which resulted in approximately 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims being forced to seek refuge across the border into Bangladesh.
Tension between Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya
Ethnic tension still persists between the Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya. Myanmar’s parallel national unity government, which was established by elected lawmakers barred from taking office in 2021, condemned the airstrikes. The organization urged the international community to put pressure on the military to end its actions, take action against perpetrators and provide humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military came to power in 2021, sparking widespread public protests. Many opponents of military rule have since taken up arms. Large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict. The military government has stepped up airstrikes against the armed pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces, which is closely linked to the national unity government, ahead of elections on December 28. Opponents of military rule allege that the elections will be neither free nor fair. This is primarily an attempt to legitimize the military’s continued rule in power.
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