Junta shelling blamed for injuring four people in Minbya Twsp village

By Admin 15 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
15 January 2024, Minbya

Four local people were injured on Sunday when an artillery shell fired by a Myanmar Navy vessel landed and exploded in Kyaryepyin Village, part of Arakan State’s Minbya Township, where fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) is escalating.

The Myanmar Navy warship in the Laymyo River fired into Kyaryepyin Village on the afternoon of January 14, injuring three young men and an elderly man.

“A Myanmar Navy vessel fired into some villages along the Laymyo River yesterday. A mortar shell fired by a Myanmar Navy vessel fell and exploded in our village, wounding four people,” said a local woman.

The four injured have been identified as Maung Nay Myo Zaw, 15, Maung Tun Win, 17, U Maung Nyo Aung, 65, and a 17-year-old teenage boy whose identity was not known at press time.

Maung Nay Myo Zaw and Maung Tun Win sustained shrapnel wounds to their abdomen and right thigh, U Maung Nyo Aung received shrapnel wounds to his right arm and back, and the other young man suffered injuries to his face and right arm. The injured are being treated in a nearby village.

A junta artillery strike killed a child and injured three others in Paikthae Village, Minbya Township, on January 12.

From January 10, when the Minbya battle began, to January 14, at least 10 civilian casualties were reported and many houses were damaged due to the military regime’s artillery strikes and airstrikes.

“The military deliberately attacks Minbya town. Hundreds of homes in Minbya were destroyed due to the junta air attacks and artillery strikes. The military regime is targeting things that are not related to the fighting,” said a resident of Minbya.

The AA has been launching attacks on the military’s Minbya-based Light Infantry Battalion Nos. 379, 380 and 541 since the morning of January 10, with hostilities reportedly still fierce.

Along with the intensity of the fighting, the numbers of dead and injured due to the junta’s artillery strikes are also increasing daily, reaching more than 310 civilian casualties over the past two months.