 "United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. AP File")
According to a U.N. official, military bombings in Myanmar, including one on Monday in Minbya township, have left several civilians dead or injured. This alarms UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Ever since the military overthrew an elected government in a coup in 2021, Myanmar has been in chaos.
“The expansion of conflict in Rakhine State is driving displacement and exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities and discrimination,” the spokesman said. “The Secretary-General calls on all parties to prevent further incitement of communal tensions.”
For decades, the Muslim Rohingya have been persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar; today, around a million of them are housed in overcrowded camps in the border area of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The majority escaped a 2017 military crackdown.
The Rohingya have been refused citizenship by Myanmar’s military government because they see them as foreign invaders.
According to Radio Free Asia, who cited locals, a fighter jet bombed Thar Dar, a mostly Rohingya community located three miles (five km) north of Minbya, on Friday, killing twenty-three and wounding thirty.
The account could not be verified by Reuters right away.