{"id":8451,"date":"2025-12-12T23:34:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/?p=8451"},"modified":"2025-12-12T23:34:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:04:18","slug":"the-military-junta-that-deliberately-bombed-mrauk-u-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/2025\/12\/the-military-junta-that-deliberately-bombed-mrauk-u-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"The military junta that deliberately bombed Mrauk-U Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 Scenes from December 11<\/strong><\/p>\n

(MoeMaKha) December 12, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

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The military junta that deliberately bombed Mrauk-U Hospital<\/h3>\n

At around 9 p.m. on December 10, fighter jets belonging to the coup military junta dropped two 500-lb bombs<\/strong> on the main public hospital in Mrauk-U, Rakhine State \u2013 a town under the control and administration of the Arakan Army (AA)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One bomb hit the hospital buildings directly. The other landed on an open area in front of the hospital. According to an AA statement, 33 people<\/strong> \u2013 patients receiving treatment, family members staying with them, and hospital staff \u2013 were killed on the spot, and 76 others<\/strong> were injured.<\/p>\n

Videos from the scene show the hospital burning after the strike. Photos taken that same night show bodies wrapped in blankets and tarpaulins, including the corpse of an infant still wearing a diaper. On the morning of December 11, at the cemetery, rows of bodies laid out on the ground, wrapped in cloth with parts of their faces visible, blood soaking into blankets and clothing. From the images alone, there is no room for doubt: the victims were civilians<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is far from the first time the coup military has bombed places that clearly serve civilians, such as schools and hospitals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Depayin Township, schools in several villages have already been hit by airstrikes more than once. In Karenni (Kayah) State, schools have also been bombed. About two years ago, when the junta air force bombed Let Yet Kone School<\/strong> in Depayin, more than a dozen children were killed or wounded. And in May this year, an airstrike on the school in Oe Tit Twin Village<\/strong>, also in Depayin Township, killed 22 people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Rakhine State, a school in Kyauktaw Township<\/strong> was hit by an airstrike about three months ago, in September, killing 20 students<\/strong>. These are just some of the attacks with large numbers of casualties<\/strong> that we can list; there have been many more airstrikes with fewer reported deaths, and many of those also involve schools and hospitals.<\/p>\n

This latest bombing of Mrauk-U General Hospital<\/strong> is a direct attack on a facility that international rules of war explicitly classify as protected<\/strong> \u2013 a place that must not be targeted.<\/p>\n

Spokespersons for the junta and retired officers who publicly defend the military often try to justify such attacks in media interviews. They describe them as \u201cwar actions,\u201d or argue that if an armed group is providing security or using a location, then that location becomes a \u201clegitimate military target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Globally, it is not the case that hospitals and schools are never<\/em> attacked in armed conflicts.<\/p>\n

During Israel\u2019s ongoing campaign in Gaza<\/strong>, launched more than two years ago to \u201celiminate Hamas,\u201d hospitals have been hit by rockets and airstrikes, and there have been incidents where dozens of people<\/strong> were killed at a time. Despite the fact that thousands upon thousands of civilians have died in these operations, no country \u2013 including the United States and certain Western European states that fund and arm Israel \u2013 has been able or willing to stop<\/strong> these actions.<\/p>\n

In the Russia\u2013Ukraine war<\/strong>, where fighting has been extremely intense, schools and hospitals have generally been avoided as deliberate targets. When there have been concerns around those sites, human rights organizations have criticized both attacks and the stationing of troops or weapons near such facilities.<\/p>\n

What I want to point out here is this:
Even in the case of Israel\u2019s Netanyahu government<\/strong>, which stands accused of genocide<\/strong>, and despite the many war crimes and inhumane acts committed against civilians, no state has meaningfully intervened to stop it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From that reality, it is difficult to expect the international community to make any serious move to halt the kinds of war crimes now being committed in Myanmar<\/strong>. I say this with a heavy heart.<\/p>\n

Since the coup, the junta has:<\/p>\n