Airstrikes carried out by Myanmar’s military government on Wednesday night killed at least 33 people and injured 76 others at a public hospital in Mrauk-U, a town in Rakhine State under the control of the Arakan Army. The attack, which came just weeks before the junta’s planned Dec. 28 election, involved two 500-pound bombs that struck the hospital compound, destroying one building, gutting another, and leaving a large crater. Images shared online showed bodies on the ground, extensive fires, and trees torn apart by the blast.
The Arakan Army noted that the strike occurred on International Human Rights Day, calling attention to the ongoing brutality of the military regime. A Myanmar government-in-exile made up of lawmakers removed in the 2021 coup condemned the attack as a criminal act by an illegitimate dictatorship, accusing the junta of using violence to bolster a “sham election.” The group expressed condolences for the victims, urged support for Rakhine civilians, and vowed to continue working with allies to end military rule.
With the junta portraying the upcoming election as a path toward peace, its forces have sharply escalated airstrikes on rebel-held regions that have vowed to disrupt voting. Civilians have increasingly found themselves in the crossfire, with schools, clinics, monasteries, and displacement camps all coming under attack. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 homes have been burned, 3.6 million people displaced, and nearly 22 million now need humanitarian aid—conditions it described as a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
The U.N. has also dismissed the planned election as neither free nor fair, citing systemic arrests, torture, restrictions on speech, and imprisonment of journalists. Its human rights investigators warned that the junta is attempting to manufacture legitimacy after driving the country into crisis.
International concern has grown beyond Myanmar’s borders. U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk urged the Trump administration not to end Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar nationals, warning that returning people to a country marked by severe human rights abuses would be unconscionable.
Deadly attacks have continued throughout the year. In October, a paraglider bombing of a candlelight vigil in Chaung-U killed at least 24 protesters and injured 47 more. Sagaing, a resistance stronghold where local administration is carried out by People’s Defense Forces, has faced repeated military assaults as the regime attempts to crush opposition ahead of the election.