United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is alarmed by reports that military airstrikes in Myanmar, including those on the city of Minbya on Monday, killed and wounded numerous civilians, a UN spokesman said.
Myanmar has been torn by turmoil since the military seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup.
“The spread of the conflict in Rakhine State leads to displacement and the worsening of already existing vulnerabilities and discrimination,” said the spokesperson.
“The General Secretary calls on all parties to prevent further incitement of tension in the community,” he added.
Rohingya Muslims have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades, with nearly a million of them living in overcrowded camps in the neighboring Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar. Most fled military reprisals in 2017.
Myanmar’s military rulers regard the Rohingya as foreign invaders and have denied them citizenship.
Citing local residents, Radio Free Asia reported that 23 people were killed and 30 wounded on Friday when a fighter jet dropped a bomb on Thar Dar, a Rohingya-majority village about five kilometers north of Minbiya.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the allegations from independent sources.
