Witnesses and a rescue worker told AFP that a Myanmar military airstrike hit the Byar La displaced persons camp in Ponnagyun township, northeast of the Rakhine state capital Sittwe, on Friday evening, killing 12 people, among them a five year old, and injuring 18. Residents said the camp, home to people displaced by the civil war for four years, was not a combat area and that they had believed it was safe, and the rescue worker said most of the victims died in one place where they had sheltered together. AFP said it could not contact the Myanmar military for comment; Rakhine is controlled almost entirely by the ethnic Arakan Army, is blockaded by the military, and faces regular airstrikes, and the ACLED monitor estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed across Myanmar since the war began.
Myanmar airstrike on displaced persons camp kills twelve
Witnesses and a rescue worker said a Myanmar military airstrike on the Byar La displaced persons camp in Ponnagyun township, Rakhine state, on Friday evening killed 12 people, including a five year old, and injured 18.
Why it matters: The camp housed people displaced by Myanmar's civil war for four years in a state now almost entirely held by the Arakan Army, and a strike on a camp residents say was not a combat area is the latest in a pattern of military air attacks on civilian shelters in Rakhine.
Data as of AFP report carried by Arab News, published November 14, 2026, read in full in this pass. Single wire source, based on witnesses and a rescue worker at the camp; AFP said it was not possible to contact the Myanmar military for comment, so the attribution of the strike is witness based and uncorroborated by the military. Developing item.
Sources
- Myanmar airstrike on displaced persons camp kills 12: witnesses - Arab News, carrying AFP - 2026-11-14