Junta spreads misinformation after bombing of Mrauk-U Hospital

By Admin 13 Dec 2025

DMG Newsroom

13 December 2025, Mrauk-U

Myanmar’s military regime has admitted to bombing Mrauk-U Hospital on International Human Rights Day, December 10, but has responded with what residents and observers describe as misinformation about the incident.

The airstrike on the hospital killed at least 34 civilians and injured nearly 80 others, including medical personnel, patients and hospital staff.

Following the attack, the military regime claimed that Mrauk-U was an Arakan Army (AA) camp and that the hospital had been used as a military base. Junta-controlled media reported that after the AA temporarily took control of Mrauk-U in July 2024, the hospital was officially closed and repurposed as a military facility.

However, the military’s own reports have also stated that Mrauk-U Township was not fully captured by the Arakan Army in July, but in February 2024.

Muslim residents of Mrauk-U Township said the hospital was not being used as a military base, but was functioning as a public hospital providing medical care to civilians across Arakan State, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

“Now, all the people receiving medical treatment are Arakanese, Chin and Muslims. There are also many patients waiting. We are not happy with the military regime bombing this place. We also want to ask international organisations to take immediate and concrete action,” said U Thein Shwe, a resident of Pipinyin Village in Mrauk-U Township.

The Chin Defence Force–Asho (CDF-Asho) also observed a minute of silence in front of the Chin national flag to mourn the large number of civilian casualties in Arakan State, amid claims that the group had been included in the military regime’s disinformation narrative.

Junta-controlled media also mentioned the Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA) and a “local people’s defence force,” without clearly identifying which groups in Arakan State were being referenced.

“The AA and local groups such as the PDF, BPLA and CDF-Asho have disguised the site as a hospital and are using it as a military base, as well as conducting administrative matters for their groups,” the junta-controlled newspapers reported.

When DMG visited the bombed hospital and spoke with the dead and injured, it found that pregnant women awaiting childbirth and newborn babies were among the casualties.

Beds, shoes and clothing belonging to patients were found scattered across the hospital compound, indicating that the facility was functioning as a civilian hospital rather than a military camp, contrary to the military regime’s claims.

Families of those killed in the bombing said the attack was unjust and called for international recognition of the harm caused.

“We are being treated in hospitals with no money. I want the international community to recognise that we are being bombed. I want everyone to know that the Myanmar military is doing this. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I don’t want to lose anyone,” said Ma Hnin Moe Nwe from Waithali Village in Mrauk-U Township.

After the Arakan Army took control of Mrauk-U, the hospital was reopened in cooperation with health workers and civil society organisations to serve civilians lacking access to healthcare.

Similar bombings have killed and injured patients, health workers and volunteers from civil society organisations in townships including Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun and Rathedaung.

The military regime issued its statements amid strong condemnation from the international community, including the United Nations, which described the bombing of Mrauk-U Hospital as a war crime and a crime against humanity.