Three trucks destroyed by fire on Yangon-Sittwe road

By Khaing Roe La 30 Aug 2019

Khaing Roe La/ DMG

30 August, Ponnagyun

Three trucks were torched at a location between Yoetayoke and Thae Taw villages in Ponnagyun Township on Yangon-Sittwe road, Yoetayoke villagers said.

The vehicles were headed to Ponnagyun Township from Kyauktaw Township and were destroyed by a fire that occurred near Yoetayoke village at about 7 p.m. on 29 August, according to villagers.

The Tatmadaw said that it was a bomb attack carried out by the AA on civilians’ vehicles, but the AA said that there were soldiers on the trucks. 

Colonel Win Zaw Oo, the head of the Western Command, said; “It was not our convoy. And the vehicles did not carry military equipment. They were privately owned vehicles. They were trucks carrying goods to Mrauk-U and Sittwe. Two of three trucks were empty. We knew that one of the trucks was transporting vegetables.”

The AA denies the remarks of Colonel Win Zaw Oo and claimed that there were soldiers on the trucks and they returned fire.

“What we can say exactly is that there were soldiers in the trucks. The drivers were also soldiers. They all got out of the trucks and returned gunfire from behind the trucks. They threw hand-grenades and set fire to the trucks,” said the AA’s spokesperson Khaing Thukha.

Local residents could not identify the drivers and the DMG could not confirm where they ran away to.

The Tatmadaw is using civilian vehicles, police vehicles and Chinese Aid vehicles to move troops and munitions, the AA said on 12 August.