Growing body of evidence suggests targeting of civilians in Arakan State

By Admin 06 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
6 January 2024, Sittwe

Civilian casualties continue to mount in Arakan State, where Myanmar’s military regime has been accused of retaliating for Arakan Army (AA) attacks on its troop positions by targeting civilian populations. 

A man in his 60s was killed and a 30-year-old woman was injured by an artillery shell fired by junta troops stationed inside the compound of the No. 12 Police Battalion in Sittwe town, which landed in Thawin Chaung Village, Pauktaw Township, at around 4 p.m. on Saturday.

A resident of Thawin Chaung Village said: “Two shells landed. One shell landed near the village, and another hit the village.”

Another resident said: “Villagers have not yet fled though they are concerned that similar incidents might happen again as [junta troops] from Sittwe fire artillery shells daily.”

Two women in Taungpu Village, Pauktaw Township, were also injured on Friday by an artillery shell fired from the direction of the No. 12 Police Battalion in Sittwe.

A 60-year-old man from Yangon who was working as a guard at a local crab brokerage in Kuntaung Village, Ponnagyun Township, was killed by an artillery shell fired by junta troops in Sittwe at around 5 a.m. on Saturday morning.

“Our villagers had already fled because of reports about planned artillery strikes by junta troops,” said a woman from Kuntaung Village.

A 67-year-old woman from Kuntaing Village in Buthidaung Township was seriously injured on Friday by artillery shells as Light Infantry Battalion No. 565, which belongs to the Buthidaung-based No. 15 Military Operations Command, deliberately shelled villages.

Many residents have been displaced in Arakan State since renewed fighting between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army broke out on November 13. Most have not been displaced by active conflict between the warring parties, however, and instead were prompted to flee the junta’s indiscriminate artillery strikes.

According to a DMG tally, 58 civilians were killed and 198 others were injured between November 13, 2023, and January 3, 2024. [Editor’s Note: The casualty count does not include residents of Pauktaw, where fierce fighting continues and reliable information remains difficult to ascertain.]