Myanmar's military junta says hospital it bombed killing dozens was used as based by armed groups

Myanmar’s military acknowledged on Saturday that it had carried out an airstrike on a hospital in the western state of Rakhine, which a local rescuer and media reports said killed more than 30 people, including patients, medical workers and children.

In a statement published by the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the military’s information office said armed groups, including the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) and the People’s Defence Force, pro-democracy militias formed after the army takeover in 2021, used the hospital as their base.

It said the military carried out necessary security measures and launched a counter-terrorism operation against the hospital buildings on Wednesday. It added that those killed or injured were armed members of opposition groups and their supporters but not civilians.

A senior official for rescue services in Rakhine told the Associated Press on Thursday that 34 people, including patients and medical staff, were killed and about 80 others sustained injuries to varying degrees.

They noted that an army fighter jet dropped two bombs on the general hospital in Mrauk-U township, an area controlled by the AA. He said the hospital building was destroyed by the bombs on Wednesday night.

The United Nations on Thursday said in a statement that the attack was part of a broader pattern of strikes causing harm to civilians and civilian objects that are devastating communities across the country.

Head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that he was “appalled” by the attack on the hospital that provided primary healthcare, saying it will disrupt access to health care for entire communities that depend on it.

“Mrauk-U People’s Hospital is the primary health care centre in the area, providing health and emergency services, obstetric care, and surgical capacity. This attack will disrupt access to health care for entire communities,” said Ghebreyesus.

Ghebreyesus also noted that this is the 67th attack against a hospital, clinic or medical facility that the WHO’s Myanmar operations have been able to verify this year. He called for greater accountability and an immediate halt to attacks against hospitals.

“Every attack on health care is an attack on humanity. Health facilities, patients and health workers must be protected at all times. Stop attacks on health care!”

Mrauk-U, located 530 kilometres northwest of Yangon, the country’s largest city, was captured by the Arakan Army in February 2024.

The AA is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.

It began its offensive in Rakhine in November 2023, and has seized a strategically important regional army headquarters and 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships.

The group vowed in its statement released on Thursday that it will pursue accountability in cooperation with global organisations to ensure justice and take “strong and decisive action” against the military.

The group also said in separate statements that the army had launched a series of overnight airstrikes in five towns in Rakhine since the hospital attack, killing at least eight civilians and wounding close to a dozen others.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army took power in 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition. Many opponents of military rule have since taken up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.