The UN demanded an independent probe after an airstrike on Mrauk-U Hospital in Rakhine State killed at least 33 people and injured 20, destroying key surgical and inpatient facilities. UN rights chief Volker Turk and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the strike and warned it may constitute a war crime. The WHO said this is the 67th verified attack on health care in Myanmar this year, amid a broader rise in air strikes since the 2021 coup and ahead of a contested December 28 election.
UN Calls for Investigation After Deadly Airstrike on Mrauk-U Hospital in Myanmar
The strike on a hospital in Myanmar that killed at least 33 people may count as a war crime, the UN says (STR)(STR/AFP/AFP)
The United Nations on Thursday called for an independent investigation after an airstrike on Mrauk-U Hospital in western Myanmar's Rakhine State killed at least 33 people and injured 20. UN and health officials warned the attack — which destroyed operating rooms and the main inpatient ward — could amount to a war crime.
Details of the strike: The attack struck Mrauk-U Hospital late on Wednesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) described the facility as the region's primary emergency and surgical centre and said hospital infrastructure was severely damaged.
"I am appalled and condemn in the strongest possible terms the strikes on Rakhine hospital which left dozens of civilians dead and wounded," UN rights chief Volker Turk said on X. "Such attacks may amount to a war crime. I call for investigations and those responsible to be held to account. The fighting must stop now."
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the attack killed health workers, patients and family members, and noted that this is the 67th verified attack on health care in Myanmar this year. "Every attack on health care is an attack on humanity," he wrote on X.
Investigation and accountability
A spokesman for Turk's office said national authorities are formally responsible for investigating the strike, but cautioned that "given the prevailing impunity" there are alternative avenues to pursue accountability, including international courts and universal jurisdiction mechanisms.
Political context
The incident comes as Myanmar's ruling military junta has stepped up air strikes since seizing power in a 2021 coup that ended a decade-long democratic experiment and plunged the country into civil war. The junta has scheduled a new election beginning on December 28, which it says will restore peace and democracy; international monitors and ousted lawmakers reject the ballot as an attempt to legitimate continued military rule, and armed resistance groups have vowed to block voting in areas they control.
At a Geneva briefing, Turk warned that the military-imposed election is unfolding amid renewed violence, arrests of opponents, voter coercion, extensive electronic surveillance and systemic discrimination — conditions he said are likely to deepen insecurity and polarisation across the country.
What happens next: UN officials have called for immediate, transparent investigations and for those responsible to be held to account. Humanitarian and medical services in the region face further strain as conflict continues.
