At least six civilians have been killed and 23 others wounded in shellings amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Arakan State since August.
Six people killed by junta shelling Two 7-year-old children, from Nagara Village in Kyauktaw Township and Atwin Hngetthae Village in Buthidaung Township respectively, were killed in separate junta shellings on September 23 and 25.
The artillery shells fired by the military killed a 60-year-old woman in Mingyi Village in Maungdaw Township on August 27 and three civilians including a child from Kinseik Village in Mrauk-U Township on August 28.
23 civilians injured by junta shellings Four civilians in a rural village of Arakan State’s Minbya Township were injured and a home in another village was damaged by an artillery shell reportedly fired by the Myanmar military on the morning of September 27.
Two people including a woman were wounded by a junta shelling in Mrauk Ywa Village in Buthidaung Township on September 23. An artillery shell fired by the military injured a woman from Atwin Hngetthae Village in Buthidaung Township on the same day.
Four people were injured in Nagara Village, Kyauktaw Township, when their house was struck by an artillery shell fired by junta troops on September 20. A guesthouse and three homes in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw were damaged by an artillery shell on September 24. Eight residents from Kinseik Village in Mrauk-U Township were also wounded by an artillery shell fired by the military on August 28.
Locals say the civilian deaths and injuries were caused by the Myanmar military’s heavy weapons fire. However, the regime has not made any announcements regarding these incidents.
“When the two armed groups were fighting, the military deliberately made the people afraid rather than shooting for no reason. I see that the military is giving fear to the people with the intention that the activities of the other party supported by the people will decrease,” said a member of the Arakan Students’ Union.
Locals live in fear due to frequent artillery shelling, said a resident of Kyauktaw town who did not want to be named for security reasons.
“We are worried about our safety due to the junta shelling and we cannot sleep well at night. We worry that more heavy weapons will be fired by the military,” he added.
Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army reached an informal ceasefire agreement ahead of the country’s November 2020 general election, after approximately two years of often-intense fighting in Arakan State.
But the peace pact has verged on total collapse for weeks amid months of escalating military tensions, civilian arrests and a series of clashes between the two sides across multiple Arakan State townships, and in neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State.
Some 300 residents of Buthidaung Township fled their village on September 23 due to mortar fire and the presence of Myanmar military troops, bringing the total number of new internally displaced people (IDPs) since August in Arakan State to nearly 9,000, UNOCHA Myanmar said in a statement on September 27.
