Houses caught fire due to artillery fire in Buthidaung Township

By Cha Lu Aung 05 Sep 2019

Cha Lu Aung | DMG
5 September, Buthidaung
 
Artillery shells landed in U Yin Tha village, Buthidaung Township, yesterday, resulting in houses becoming set ablaze.

The house fires in U Yin Thar village could be seen from Phone Nyo Late village, but he did not know how many houses were torched, said Mahmed Taw Yote from Sin Thay Byin village.

“I don’t know the exact area the artillery shells came from.  No. 551 Regiment is launching artillery every day. There was no fighting today,” he said on 4 September.

On 28 August in Sin Thay Byin village, two Muslim women, Ma Rawta Bakin, 20, and Ma Laila Bakin, 18, were injured because of artillery fire and villagers fled to Phone Nyo Late village.

The DMG phoned Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Western Command, about the gunfire, but he refused to give comment.

Khaing Thukha, spokesperson of the AA, said that a Tatmadaw troop entered U Yin Tha village by shooting guns and set fire to houses in the afternoon of 4 September.

“There was no fighting. The Myanmar Army first launched artillery shells into the village before noon. Then, their troops on the ground shot guns and rockets. After that, they set fire to houses in the village. There were no people in the village. All villagers had already fled to safe areas. They torched vacant houses,” Khaing Thukha said.

On 29 August, about 5 houses from U Yin Tha and Sin Thay Byin villages were destroyed by fire due to artillery shells launched by No.551 Regiment in Buthidaung Township.

About 80 people from U Yin Tha, Nwa Yone Taung and Thayet Pyin villages fled to Buthidaung town yesterday afternoon.