An airstrike on September 28 in Rakhine state, Myanmar, has killed at least 50 people and injured 60, including children. Civilians in Rakhine state and other parts of Myanmar face ongoing extreme violence, and the country remains in active conflict, with bombings, mass killings, forced recruitment, and severe restrictions on humanitarian access.
Dr. Mark Sherlock, medical programs manager for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Myanmar, gave the following statement:
“The airstrike on Monday near a busy market in Kyauktaw, Rakhine state, was reported to have killed at least 50 people. But as a doctor, I know all too well that this number will likely rise. At least 60 other survivors, including children, were left maimed or severely burned. Many now require complex, lifesaving trauma care that Rakhine’s health system is extremely ill-equipped to provide.
“With only a few functioning hospitals remaining across central Rakhine, where many of the injured are being referred, health staff are already stretched to their limits. Every day, they are forced to adapt to shortages of everything: medicines, medical equipment, staff, and even the food needed to support patients’ recovery. Responding to a mass influx of war-wounded patients on top of this is pushing health services to the edge of collapse. I know this because, for the past five years, I have served as MSF’s medical program manager for Myanmar. In Rakhine, as in many other conflict-affected parts of the country where MSF works, the health system is hanging by a thread.
“Blast injuries, fractures, punctured lungs, internal bleeding, and severe burns all require immediate, and often specialized medical care, including emergency surgery and post-operative treatment. We understand that at least 17 patients are in critical condition. But even as these patients lie critically injured, their safety — and the safety of those caring for them — is not assured.
“Despite the protections afforded to hospitals and civilian infrastructure under international humanitarian law, there have been two attacks in the past nine months on facilities once supported by MSF. In December 2025, Mrauk-U General Hospital was bombed, killing 33 people and injuring 70. In March 2026, Sittwe General Hospital was hit by shelling and its medical warehouse was destroyed. These are just two of almost 2,000 attacks on health care documented by Insecurity Insight in Myanmar between 2021 and 2026.
“As the country’s health system continues to be torn apart by violence, what we are hearing from Rakhine today is not surprising to me. As violence intensifies, we are aware that people are becoming increasingly fearful of traveling to seek health care. They are being forced to weigh the risk of staying at home and delaying treatment against the risk of going to hospital, where gatherings of people may make them a target for the next attack.
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Read more“Community-based activities, which include services like mobile clinics that bring health care closer to where people live, have been forced to reduce. Some primary health care centers have closed in order to avoid attracting crowds and reduce their visibility and exposure to violence.
“This level of insecurity for people trying to access health care, and for health workers trying to provide it, cannot be accepted as normal. Health care must be protected — not only from attack, but also from the severe deprivation of everything a health system needs to function. Stop bombing civilians. Stop bombing hospitals. Allow lifesaving medical care to reach those who need it."
