Civilian casualties mount amid battle for Thandwe 

By Admin 22 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
22 July 2024, Thandwe

Civilian casualties continue to rise amid the battle for control of Thandwe in Arakan State due to the regime’s artillery attacks and airstrikes.

Five local people including a pregnant woman from Abel Village and two others from Jeittaw Village were killed in a junta artillery assault on July 19.

“A clash between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) broke out along the Abel mountain range on July 19. The regime deliberately fired mortar shells into residential areas and the sea. This is the reason why civilians were killed in the regime shelling,” said a local resident in Thandwe.

It has been more than three months since fighting between the military and AA broke out in Thandwe Township on April 13.

At least 150 civilian casualties were reported by junta gunshots, shellings, airstrikes, and landmine blasts during three months in Arakan State, according to DMG tallies. 

“The regime, which is defeated militarily, is no longer fighting the war as a war, but is attacking innocent people. Therefore, civilians are losing their basic human rights and suffering,” said a human rights activist in Arakan State.

The AA has taken control of the military’s two Ngapali-based battalions and Thandwe Town in recent weeks. Fierce fighting is ongoing as the AA continues to attack the junta battalions.

With the fall of Ngapali Town to the AA, Myanmar’s military regime has brought in reinforcements from its army and naval forces based in Ayeyarwady Region to defend neighbouring Thandwe Town.