Dec 11, Kathmandu - More than 30 people have been killed in a military airstrike on a hospital in Myanmar, conflict monitors say. The junta has stepped up airstrikes since the start of Myanmar's civil war.

The military has declared a boycott of the vote, which is due to begin on December 28, and the rebels have said they will prevent it from taking control of areas they control, which the junta is fighting to retake.

A military jet bombed a hospital in Mrauk-U, a town in western Rakhine state on the border with Bangladesh, hospital aid worker Wai Hun Aung said on Wednesday evening.

The situation was "very dire," the AFP news agency quoted aid workers as saying. Aid workers said 68 people were injured and more could die. At least 20 bodies were found on the ground outside the hospital.

The news agency said a junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Rakhine state is almost entirely controlled by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic minority group active since before the military ousted the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The health department said in a statement that 10 hospital patients died on the spot in the airstrike.

The powerful rival—the AA—has emerged as one of the most powerful opposition groups in the civil war ravaging Myanmar, while other ethnic minority fighters and pro-democracy partisans are also active.

Although the military-run elections have been widely criticized by observers including the United Nations, Beijing has emerged as a key supporter of what it says is the need to “restore social stability” in its neighbor.

The AA has proven to be a formidable opponent for the junta, and now controls 17 townships in Rakhine, according to conflict observers.

The group has also been accused of atrocities against the region's mostly Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority.

Meanwhile, the military has imposed a blockade on Rakhine, which has exacerbated a humanitarian crisis, with hunger and malnutrition rising, according to the World Food Programme.