Myanmar airstrike on market town kills 50

The death toll from a military airstrike on a riverside market town in western Myanmar has climbed to 50, local aid workers at the scene reported on Tuesday, a day after warplanes struck the busy trading hub.

The Arakan Army, the ethnic armed group that controls most of the area, said the bombs hit Kyauktaw town in Rakhine state around midday on Monday, when the first estimates put the number of dead at roughly 30.

"The death toll has reached 50, and 58 people were injured," said aid worker Wai Hun Aung, adding that the final figure could rise because some remains were lost in fires sparked by the bombing. A second local volunteer, who asked not to be named for security reasons, confirmed the same figures. The military has not responded to requests for comment.

Market was a lifeline for the region

The Arakan Army had earlier put the toll at 49 dead and 58 wounded, with 22 of the injured in critical condition. Those killed were "innocent passersby, market vendors, shoppers and cargo loaders," the group said in a statement.

The market and the adjacent bridge had become a centre of commerce since the civil war that followed the 2021 military coup. Rakhine has faced some of the conflict's harshest conditions and remains largely cut off from the rest of the country, making the river trade route to India a vital lifeline.

The Arakan Army controls almost all of Rakhine, apart from a handful of urban centres still held by the military, which fields fighter jets supplied by Russia and China. Rights groups have accused the air force of attacking civilians at schools, monasteries and religious festivals in strikes that may amount to war crimes.

UN figures show nearly 500,000 people have been displaced in Rakhine by the conflict. Conflict monitor ACLED estimates that more than 100,000 people have been killed across Myanmar since the 2021 putsch toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.