Ponnagyun farmer injured in regime shelling

By Admin 10 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
10 January 2024, Ponnagyun

A junta artillery strike on Diparyon Village, part of Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, on Tuesday morning injured a local farmer, according to residents.

U Aung Thar Tun, 60, sustained shrapnel wounds to his right arm after a mortar shell fired by the military’s Ponnagyun-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 550 landed and exploded in Diparyon Village on the morning of January 9 while he was preparing to harvest paddy.

“The regime force intentionally fired two artillery shells into the village yesterday. A mortar shell fell in the village, wounding U Aung Thar Tun. The military even opens fire on people harvesting paddy in the area,” said a local resident.

Farmers in Arakan State have difficulties harvesting their ripe paddy due to the ongoing fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA). The regime forces also open heavy weapons and small arms fires on the village indiscriminately.

Many paddy fields are overripe and farmers are risking their lives to harvest amid the gunfire.
“We harvest paddy for our families. We do not harvest paddy if the military fires mortar shells,” said a local farmer in Diparyon Village.

A local farmer in Ann Township was seriously injured in a junta artillery strike on December 13 while he was harvesting paddy.

Farmers in Arakan State are only able to harvest about 50 percent of their paddy fields due to the latest fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, according to the Arakan Farmers’ Union.

Farmers in Arakan State are reportedly having difficulty harvesting the remaining 50 percent of paddy fields due to both the renewed hostilities and fuel shortages. If ripe paddy is not harvested in time, it will go to waste, farmers and paddy merchants warn.