Kyauktaw townsfolk anxious as conflict hits close to home

By Hnin Nwe 03 Apr 2020

Hnin Nwe | DMG
3 April, Kyauktaw

A brief but booming eruption of small and heavy arms fire heard in Kyauktaw town late on Friday afternoon has left locals on edge, according to residents and a member of the Arakan State parliament.

Though the gunfire lasted only about five minutes, local people are worried for their lives and livelihoods, given that a hail of bullets earlier in the week killed five civilians in Kyauktaw and injured eight others. 

“We heard firing of heavy and small arms. But we don’t know which side opened fire,” said U Oo Tun Win, an MP for Kyauktaw Township in the state legislature. “All shops were shut the whole day. As a military column has a base in the town, locals are worrying about gunfire threatening their lives. The hustle-and-bustle is gone from the town.”

The firing of heavy and small arms near the residences of local people may be harmful not only to their lives but also to businesses, said Ko Kyaw Hla Myint, a Kyauktaw resident.

“Local people live in constant fear of fighting. Public places are not crowded. Markets are shut down. They travel from one place to another in fear. Sales of goods are down,” he noted.

In addition to the five dead and eight wounded when heavy weapons and small arms fire tore through the town of Kyauktaw on April 1, the downtown Shwe Kyaung Monastery was badly damaged by an artillery shell, according to local residents.