The results of a Burma army airstrike on a civilian village; photo courtesy of Free Burma Rangers (FBR)
Seventy civil society organizations from Burma’s Rakhine State appealed on October 30 to the UN Security Council, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), foreign governments and humanitarian agencies for a no-fly zone over the state. The appeal followed a September 28 airstrike on India Market and Kissapanadi Bridge in Kyauktaw Township that killed at least 50 people and injured 58.
The groups made four demands: a no-fly zone to stop military airstrikes on civilians; direct cross-border deliveries of food, medicine and basic supplies to displaced people; sanctions on aviation fuel, military technology and weapons supplied to the junta; and government support for the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) to gather and preserve evidence to hold perpetrators accountable. According to the news service m.CDM, the organizations said a no-fly zone would protect civilians and property, prevent famine and stop further mass deaths.
Kyauktaw, 96 kilometers north of the state capital Sittwe, has been held by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group, since February 2024. The AA said a military fighter jet dropped two bombs near the market around noon. The IIMM reported that many victims were traders, shoppers, passers-by, and workers loading cargo. A substantial number were women and children, including a pregnant woman and her baby. Fortify Rights, a human rights organization, reported that the dead and wounded included ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya residents.
Myanmar Witness, a project of the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience, assessed with high confidence that an airstrike hit the site and noted that the Myanmar Air Force is the only known entity with that capability. The military did not comment on the strike but has said it attacks only legitimate military targets.
A 28-year-old resident told Fortify Rights, “I was at home when the junta jets came and dropped several bombs in our town. It shook the ground. I put my hands over my ears as the explosion was loud and scary.” Wai Hun Aung, a senior rescue official in Rakhine, told the Associated Press it was “one of the most severe airstrikes in Rakhine.”
Fortify Rights reported that airstrikes in Ponnagyun, Minbya and Thandwe townships killed or wounded at least 100 people on the same day as the Kyauktaw attack. According to m.CDM, the Military and Security Affairs Institute counted 136 airstrikes on civilian targets in Rakhine State in September.
Across Burma, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) has recorded 41 airstrikes on markets since January 2022, killing at least 145 civilians. Rakhine had the highest number of casualties from those attacks. The Institute for Strategy and Policy–Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) has documented at least 115 massacres involving the deaths of 10 or more civilians since the February 2021 coup, with a total death toll of 2,324.
The strikes are part of the military’s Operation 4926, launched on September 4 to retake territory from the AA through airstrikes, artillery bombardments and ground offensives. Since launching its own offensive in November 2023, the AA has captured a regional military headquarters, 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. Regime forces remain largely confined to Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung Island. ISP-Myanmar reports clashes in Kyaukphyu, Sittwe and Ponnagyun townships since the operation began.
Kyaukphyu is the site of a planned deep-sea port and special economic zone involving China’s CITIC Group. The project is part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In December 2022, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2669 on Burma by 12 votes to none, with China, Russia and India abstaining. It did not address airstrikes, arms or fuel. In February 2024, nine Council members issued a joint statement condemning the military’s “indiscriminate” airstrikes and urging it “to cease its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.” At the same meeting, China said ASEAN’s efforts should be given “time and space,” while Russia said the Council should not interfere in Burma’s internal affairs. The United States separately pushed for an enforceable resolution to stop the military from obtaining jet fuel.
The Rakhine appeal follows a December 2021 request by the Karen National Union (KNU) for a UN emergency meeting to establish a no-fly zone over Kayin State after military airstrikes near Lay Kay Kaw. DVB reported that the UN had not responded to that request.
The Philippines holds the ASEAN chair in 2026. After the Kyauktaw strike, Ana Marie Hernando, the Philippine foreign affairs assistant secretary for ASEAN affairs, said in an emailed response that “the Philippines is closely monitoring developments and expresses concern over the attacks.” The country offered to facilitate regional discussions on assistance to Burma. ASEAN’s 2021 Five-Point Consensus calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy, humanitarian assistance and a visit by the envoy to Burma.
Burma’s jet fuel imports rose from 64,562 metric tons in 2024 to 106,604 metric tons in 2025, according to Myanma Port Authority data cited by Justice For Myanmar, an activist group. The European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and Australia began imposing sanctions on parts of the military’s aviation fuel supply chain in 2023. According to the group, Canada is the only one of the five to have banned aviation fuel exports to Burma outright.
The IIMM has asked witnesses for information about the aircraft used in the Kyauktaw strike, its departure base, the weapons dropped and the military personnel involved, including the pilots and those who gave or carried out the orders. As of November 3, no public response from the Security Council or ASEAN to the no-fly zone appeal had been reported.
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