At least 22 people, most of them children, were killed when Myanmar’s military carried out an airstrike on a private boarding school in Thayat Tabin Village, Kyauktaw Township, on Friday, according to residents and local media. The Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group, has controlled Kyauktaw since January last year.
Witnesses said one of the school’s buildings was obliterated, with nearby structures badly damaged. Four children later succumbed to injuries, raising the toll from the initial 18 deaths reported by the AA. “As we get updates, the fatalities are increasing. Now, at least 20 have been killed,” a member of a local social welfare group told The Irrawaddy. No ground fighting was reported at the time of the strike.
Pro-junta social media accounts alleged the AA was conducting troop training in the village, though residents said the victims were schoolchildren and neighbourhood youths.
Is this part of a wider campaign of airstrikes?
The attack follows a similar strike on August 25, 2025 when junta aircraft bombed the Daing Kyi neighbourhood in Mrauk-U, killing 14 people – including three young children and three teenagers – and injuring 18.
Since January, at least 106 people have died in air raids across Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U, Ramree, Rathedaung and Kyauktaw townships, according to figures released by the AA.
Who controls Rakhine State now?
The AA has seized control of 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships and Paletwa in neighbouring Chin State since launching its offensive in November 2023. Only Sittwe, Manaung and Kyaukphyu remain under junta control, though the AA says it dominates rural areas around both Sittwe and Kyaukphyu.
The ethnic force has also expanded into Magwe, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions, prompting a counteroffensive from the regime as it struggles to retain ground. Fighting remains fierce along the Rakhine Yoma mountain range and on Rakhine’s borders with Ayeyarwady and Bago, as the military attempts to claw back territory lost to the AA.