Dozens have been killed in a military strike on a hospital in Myanmar\u2019s western Rakhine state, according to an aid worker, a rebel group, a witness and local media reports, as the junta wages a withering offensive ahead of elections beginning this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation is very terrible,\u201d said on-site aid worker Wai Hun Aung. \u201cAs for now, we can confirm there are 31 deaths and we think there will be more deaths. Also there are 68 wounded and will be more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hospital in Rakhine\u2019s Mrauk U township was struck late on Wednesday by bombs dropped by a military aircraft, said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, which is battling the ruling junta along parts of the coastal state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mrauk U General Hospital was completely destroyed,\u201d Khine Thu Kha told Reuters news agency. \u201cThe high number of casualties occurred because the hospital took a direct hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls for comment.<\/p>\n
A mourner reacts as bodies are laid out at a cemetery before their burial following a Myanmar military air strike in Mrauk U in western Rakhine state on 11 December 2025. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said such attacks may amount to a war crime and called for an investigation. A spokesperson for the US state department called the reports \u201cdisturbing\u201d and said the military government should cease violence against civilians.<\/p>\n
Local media reports said dozens had been killed in the hospital strike, with photographs from the scene showing the shattered remains of the health facility, and shrouded bodies visible on the ground outside the facility after the attack. The Guardian could not immediately verify the images.<\/p>\n
Soon after he heard the sound of explosions on Wednesday night, a 23-year-old resident of Mrauk U said he rushed to the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I arrived, the hospital was on fire,\u201d he told Reuters, asking not to be named because of security concerns. \u201cI saw many bodies lying around and many injured people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 300-bed hospital was overflowing with patients at the time of the strike, said aid worker Wai Hun Aung, as most healthcare services across swathes of Rakhine state have been suspended amid the ongoing fighting.<\/p>\n
In this aerial photo provided by Wai Hun Aung, damaged buildings are seen at the hospital that was allegedly hit by a military air strike in Mrauk-U township in Rakhine state, Myanmar, Thursday, 11 Dec., 2025. Photograph: Wai Hun Aung\/AP<\/p>\n
The junta has increased airstrikes year-on-year since the start of Myanmar\u2019s civil war, conflict monitors say, after seizing power in a 2021 coup that ended a decade-long democratic experiment.<\/p>\n