Junta shellings kill four, injure 12 in Minbya Twsp

By Admin 14 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 November 2023, Minbya

Four people were killed and 12 others including children were injured by junta artillery strikes on three villages in Minbya Township, Arakan State, on Tuesday.

The four were killed and nine others were injured when three artillery shells fired by junta troops stationed at Kyein Taung Pagoda in Minbya landed and exploded in Hsingyipyin Village at around 10 p.m. on November 14.

“We hid under our house when the mortar shells fell in the village. Two out of four victims died at once with their heads sticking out,” said a family member of one of the deceased, Sweyaw Husaung.

Three residents identified as Sweyaw Husaung, 20, Mamoud Arlam, 25, and Hsawmudah, 55, were pronounced dead on the spot and another man died at Minbya Hospital while receiving medical treatment.

Nine people including two children in Hsingyipyin Village sustained shrapnel wounds and the injured are currently being treated at Minbya Hospital.

“Four people were killed at their homes. I would like to ask the military not to open heavy weapons and small arms fire on civilian areas because we are not guilty of anything,” said a community elder in the village.

Elsewhere in Minbya Township, Ma Mi Mi, a 25-year-old woman from Kyunnyo Village, was slightly injured in a junta shelling, and Ma Mel Ma Chay, 24, and her husband from Bupin Village were wounded in a mortar strike on Tuesday.

Ma Mel Ma Chay was admitted to Minbya Hospital as her condition is considered life-threatening, said Ko Maung Aye Hlaing, a family member of the victim.

“No ambulance could be called to take her to the hospital, so her family carried her to the hospital. She remains uconscious. Her husband sustained minor shrapnel wounds and his condition is not life-threatening,” he explained.

Civilian casualties have been on the rise due to the junta’s indiscriminate shelling and firing following the renewed hostilities between the military and Arakan Army (AA), which began early on November 13.

An artillery strike killed one civilian and injured six locals in some villages in Ann Township’s Darletchaung Village-tract on November 14.

At least nine civilians were killed and 37 people were injured in junta artillery strikes acros Maungdaw, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, and Ann townships during the first two days of renewed hostilities in Arakan State, according to a DMG tally.