A single fighter jet, two bombs, and the busiest place in town at the busiest time of day. Around noon on Monday 28 September 2026, a Myanmar military jet struck near the main wholesale market in Kyauktaw, in the country’s western Rakhine State. By the following day the toll had climbed to at least 49 dead and 58 wounded, 22 of them critically, according to figures reported by the Associated Press.

What happened in Kyauktaw

Kyauktaw lies on the Kaladan River in northern Rakhine, north of the old royal capital of Mrauk-U. Its market is, in the words of local rescuers, the region’s main wholesale centre, the place where traders from surrounding villages buy and sell. Witness accounts relayed by rescue workers describe a fighter jet dropping two bombs near the market around midday. Buildings caught fire, vehicles were wrecked and part of a nearby bridge was destroyed.

The first reports on Monday counted 33 dead and 36 wounded. As rescuers pulled people from the debris and the injured died in overstretched clinics, the number rose to 49 by Tuesday.

The Arakan Army, which controls the town, said it “will take effective retaliatory measures soon against the individuals and organisations directly responsible”. Myanmar’s military did not immediately comment. It has previously said it strikes only legitimate military targets and has accused resistance groups of terrorism.

Why the junta fights Rakhine from the air

Rakhine has slipped almost entirely out of the military’s hands. The Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking autonomy for the Rakhine people, launched a major offensive in November 2023 and now holds 14 of the state’s 17 townships. With its ground forces routed or besieged across the region, the junta has leaned on the one advantage no rebel group can match: aircraft.

That pattern has defined the civil war since the February 2021 coup. Resistance forces field drones, rifles and captured artillery, but no fighters and almost no air defences. The result is an air campaign that repeatedly hits markets, schools, monasteries and hospitals in opposition-held areas. In April 2023 a fighter jet and Mi-35 helicopters attacked a crowd gathered in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region, killing more than 160 people. In December 2025 an airstrike on the general hospital in Mrauk-U, the neighbouring township, killed more than 30.

The overall conflict has killed more than 100,000 people since the coup, according to the conflict-monitoring group ACLED, and around half a million people have been displaced in Rakhine alone.

The aircraft behind the campaign

Which aircraft struck Kyauktaw has not been reported, and it would be guesswork to name one. What is known is the fleet the Myanmar Air Force can call on. Its fast jets come mainly from Russia and China: Su-30SME multirole fighters delivered from 2022, older MiG-29 fighters, Yak-130 light attack jets, Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighters, and Chinese-built K-8 and FTC-2000G jets that double as trainers and ground-attack aircraft. Mi-35 helicopter gunships fly low-level attacks.

None of them fly without fuel. In January 2026 Amnesty International reported that Myanmar imported 109,604 tonnes of aviation fuel in 2025, up 69% on the previous year, through shipments structured to slip past sanctions. Rights groups have argued for years that cutting off jet fuel is the most direct way to ground the bombers.

For the traders of Kyauktaw, those figures arrived as two bombs at lunchtime. The Arakan Army has promised retaliation; the junta has promised nothing. On past form, the next strike is a question of where, not whether.

Sources: Associated Press (via NBC News and Business Standard), 28–29 September 2026; Al Jazeera, 28 September 2026; WION News video, 28 September 2026; Amnesty International, aviation fuel report, January 2026; ACLED conflict data; Wikipedia, “2025 Mrauk-U hospital airstrike” and “Pazigyi massacre”.