At least 21 captured regime soldiers and their family members were killed and 30 wounded when Myanmar’s military launched airstrikes on a prison run by the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State on Tuesday evening, according to local reports.

The prison, near Chaung Tu Village on the border of Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun townships, was struck by two fighter jets dropping four bombs. The AA said the detainees—who had surrendered during the ethnic army’s seizure of the towns in 2024—were due to be released soon under an amnesty.

Women and children were among the dead, One Nation News reported. In an interview from the site, Daw Thazin Cho, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Swar, criticised the regime for bombing its own captured personnel and their families, accusing it of showing no sympathy for civilians.

The attack is the latest in a series of strikes on AA facilities holding junta prisoners. In January 2025, a raid on an AA camp in Mrauk-U killed 28 relatives of detained soldiers. In September 2024, more than 60 junta troops and other prisoners died when regime aircraft bombed a captured Border Guard Police base in Maungdaw. The military has also targeted clinics, schools and hospitals, causing widespread civilian casualties.

The AA has seized control of 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and Paletwa in neighbouring Chin State since launching a major offensive in late 2023. It is now pressing towards Kyaukphyu Township, home to key Chinese projects, and the state capital Sittwe, while expanding operations into Magwe, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions.

The latest strike underscores the junta’s reliance on air power as it struggles to contain the AA’s advance, raising fears of further civilian deaths in one of Myanmar’s most volatile regions.

-2026-01-23

Not all bad news then.