Regime burns down at least 700 homes in latest Arakan fighting

By Admin 13 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
13 January 2024, Sittwe

At least 700 homes across Sittwe, Pauktaw, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya and Ramree townships were destroyed due to junta arson attacks and artillery strikes during the first two months of the latest fighting in Arakan State.

The regime has burned down 569 homes and shops in Yeyoepyin and Khamaungdaw villages in Ponnagyun Township, 27 homes in Maungdaw Township, 10 homes in Mrauk-U Township and 19 homes in Manawthiri Village, Pauktaw Township, since November 13.

Meanwhile, dozens of homes, shops and buildings were destroyed by junta shellings, arson attacks and airstrikes on Pauktaw, Minbya and Ramree townships, though it is difficult to ascertain accurate totals on the ground.

Regime soldiers entered Taungphu Village in Pauktaw Township and torched hundreds of homes on January 11.

“There are no people in the village, and it is difficult to find out the list of houses that have been destroyed. No one dares to return home. I think paddy and rice in the village may have been destroyed,” said a resident of Taungphu Village.

Several homes and shops in Minbya, where fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) is escalating, were reduced to ashes by junta shelling and arson attacks on January 12.

Customary international humanitarian law requires any armed organisation to protect civilians and bars warring parties from attacking, abducting and using civilians as human shields or targeting civilian houses. 

Residents said the military regime’s burning down of shops is intended to make it more difficult for people to get food amid junta blockades of roads and waterways across Arakan State.

“The military regime’s arson attacks are very bad in a situation where food products are scarce and cannot be found. If all the shops are destroyed, the people will suffer even more. I want to say that the military regime is starving the people to death under the pretext of war,” said a female grocery owner from Minbya’s Myoma Market.

“These actions will remain in the history of what the military regime did. As the fighting intensifies, the military regime will oppress the people even more. It will make the situation even worse, so the people will feel the pain of the war even more,” said U Aung Thaung Shwe, an Arakanese politician.

Two months since the latest fighting between the military and AA began on November 13, oftentimes fierce clashes are reported in 14 of Arakan State’s 17 townships and in Paletwa Township, Chin State.

So far 80 people have been killed and 234 others injured in Arakan State and neighbouring Paletwa Township during the latest hostilities, according to a DMG tally.