UNITED NATIONS - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is alarmed by reports that military air strikes in Myanmar, including on March 18 in Minbya township, have killed and injured many civilians, a UN spokesperson said.

Myanmar has been convulsed by turmoil since the military seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup.

"The expansion of conflict in Rakhine State is driving displacement and exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities and discrimination," the spokesperson said. "The Secretary-General calls on all parties to prevent further incitement of communal tensions."

Muslim Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades, and nearly a million of them live in crammed camps in neighbouring Bangladesh's border district of Cox's Bazar. Most fled a military crackdown in 2017.

Myanmar's military rulers view the Rohingya as foreign interlopers and have denied them citizenship.

Citing local residents, Radio Free Asia reported that 23 people were killed and 30 injured on March 15 when a fighter jet dropped a bomb on Thar Dar, a predominantly Rohingya village about 5km north of Minbya.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the account. REUTERS