The Military Council’s Yaysoechaung Base in the northern part of Rathedaung Township in Rakhine State continuously fired artillery shells toward nearby villages and military jets launched airstrikes, forcing more than a thousand of residents to flee from their homes.
The Military Council’s Yaysoechaung Base started launching heavy artillery fire from October 3 to 6, and on October 5, jet fighters began attacking the residential houses and surrounding mountains day and night, according to the locals.
A resident who fled to the side of Mru in Rathedaung said that the villagers were scared and running to safety because of the Military Council’s indiscriminate shootings.
“Around noon on yesterday, we heard artillery fires once or twice. The Military continued to fire until we fled from the village. Perhaps around 50 or 60 people in our group fled from the village. Some people headed to the Rathedaung Rescue Camp. On October 5, the military jets came and fired at the residential areas. We didn't even sleep well. There were only a few men left in the village. We had to keep guards to look after the cattle. There will be a lot of trouble if the army keeps firing like this and the villagers continue to flee”, the resident said.
The villagers who had been fleeing due to the artillery fires by the Military Council troops for four or five days in a row were from Pyeintaw, Nyaungpinhla, Manyintaung, Bawdikone, Kontan, Kalarchaung, Yaymyat, Thameehla villages. A local resident said that more and more people are fleeing every day.
“There were people who ran away from the beginning. The rest had run away day by day. The number of people fleeing could be in the thousands. Villages don't even have villagers anymore. Only a few men left. All were very frightened when the fighter planes came to shoot at night”, he added.
At around 12:00 noon on October 6, the military council's patrol boat fired three times into the nearby villages of Nyaungpinhla, Kontan and Kalarchaung, but no people or buildings were damaged, locals said.
Because the Military Council's Yaysoechaung Base was strategically important, military planes bombed nearby areas daily to prevent it from falling into the hands of the AA. A local military analyst said artillery were believed to be firing at areas suspected to be AA hideouts.
At present, the Military Council troops are occasionally firing artillery shells at the residential villages near the Yaysoechaung Base and Manyin Hill. Yesterday, at about 1:00 PM, the Buthidaung-based Military Council battalion fired artillery at least once in the vicinity, residents said.
