Thandwe’s IDPs since mid-April reach almost 20,000, say locals

By Admin 17 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
17 May 2024, Thandwe

The number of people displaced by the junta’s targeted artillery attacks and airstrikes on residential areas has risen to nearly 20,000 in Araka State’s Thandwe Township, according to local people.

The list was estimated by the local residents, and the exact number of those fleeing the fighting has not yet been collected.

Thousands of local people fled to safer locations after 10 people were killed in a junta artillery strike on Linthi Village, Thandwe Township, on the night of May 15.

“All local people fled to safer locations following the junta airstrike on Linthi Village. The need for food and medicine for IDPs also increases. We have to buy all the food. We are facing food challenges due to the rising commodity prices,” said a resident of Yaykauk Village in Thandwe Township.

Thousands of local people from Kwaychaung, Yaysin, Shwehlay, Linthi, Yaykauk, Zeekyun and Autnatmaw villages and those from the fighting area along the Thandwe-Taungup road were forced to flee by the fighting.

The displaced people are currently taking shelter at their relatives’ homes, schools and monasteries, and they are facing difficulties due to lack of assistance from international organisations and local charities.

“Like some charities providing relief items to those in need in northern Arakan State, social organisations are not easy to supply relief aid to the IDPs in Thandwe due to the junta’s travel restrictions. The IDPs are suffering more because it is difficult to provide humanitarian aid,” said an official from an Arakanese civil society organisation.

The regime not only conducted airstrikes but also fired mortar shells into AA positions during the fighting in Thandwe Township, locals said.

The regime has fired artillery shells into some villages in Shwehlay village-tract in recent days and fierce clashes are reported on a daily basis, said a local resident in Thandwe.

“Fierce clashes are reported on a daily basis. The regime carried out air assaults and fired mortar shells into some villages,” the Thandwe resident added.

Fighting between the military and AA broke out in Thandwe Township on April 13, and the warzone continues to expand. At least 12 civilians have been killed and five others injured in Thandwe Township as the regime has targeted residential areas following the outbreak of hostilities last month.

The regime has cut off the phone lines and electricity to some villages along the Thandwe-Taungup road where the fighting between the military and AA is taking place.