Myanmar airstrike on Rakhine hospital kills 30 and injures dozens

At least 30 people, including patients, have been killed after an airstrike by Myanmar’s ruling junta hit a hospital in the country’s western Rakhine state, according to a rebel group, an aid worker and a witness. More than 70 people were injured, they said.

The hospital in Rakhine’s Mrauk U town was hit late Wednesday by bombs dropped by a military aircraft, said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the Arakan Army, which is fighting the junta in parts of the coastal state.

“Mrauk U General Hospital was completely destroyed,” Khine Thu Kha told Reuters. “The large number of casualties occurred because the hospital took a direct hit.”

This picture shows a vehicle destroyed in a Myanmar military airstrike that killed more than 30 people at a hospital in Mrauk U, western Rakhine state, on December 11, 2025. PHOTO:AFP

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to calls for comment.

Myanmar has been wracked by conflict since the military cracked down on protests against a 2021 coup that toppled an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The 300-bed hospital was full of patients at the time of the strike, aid worker Wai Hun Aung said, as most health care services in parts of Rakhine state have been suspended amid ongoing fighting.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said such attacks could amount to a war crime and called for an investigation.

“I am disappointed and condemn in the strongest possible terms the attacks on Rakhine Hospital,” he said in a post on X, adding that he was concerned about new waves of acute violence and fear in the country.