Artillery strikes taking lives again in Arakan State

By DMG 29 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
29 August 2022, Sittwe

Fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Arakan State has claimed lives in recent days, with four civilians killed and eight injured in separate artillery shellings on August 27 and 29.

An elderly woman was killed on August 27 when an artillery shell fired by the Myanmar military exploded in Mingyi village, part of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, locals said. Farther south, three civilians including a 4-year-old child were killed and eight others were injured in Mrauk-U Township on Sunday evening, when the Myanmar military’s Mrauk-U-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 377 shelled Kin Seik village.

A clash erupted between the military and AA near Lekka village on August 28, and a resident of Kin Seik village who did not want to be named for security reasons called the junta’s shelling an intentional attack on civilians.

“The fighting broke out near Lekka village, north of the Myanmar military’s LIB No. 377. Kin Seik village is located behind the Myanmar military regiment. I think the junta deliberately fired artillery shells into the village,” the unnamed resident said.

Voices from the Arakanese community have condemned the junta’s recently adopted war footing in Arakan State, which was essentially previewed by regime spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun earlier this year: At a May 19 press conference, he told the Arakan Army not to blame Myanmar’s military if conflict were to flare anew in Arakan State and the Arakanese people suffer the consequences.

“The intention of the Myanmar military is to harm the people rather than attack the AA camp. People in Arakan State should be careful,” said U Pe Than, a veteran Arakanese politician.

The Arakan Students’ Union issued a statement on August 28, in which it condemned the Myanmar military’s indiscriminate firing of heavy weapons into communities, saying such “inhumane acts” result in injuries and deaths.

“The junta troops are launching deliberate attacks against civilians and residential areas, and we strongly condemn the military’s inhumane acts,” said Ko Tun Nain Linn, central committee member of the Arakan Students’ Union.

The military junta has been brazenly committing war crimes this month, such as firing heavy weapons on residential communities, arresting civilians, obstructing the flow of goods in various ways, the Arakanese Association (Japan) said in a statement on Sunday.

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura and regime spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun.

After two years of fighting from late 2018 to November 2020, the Myanmar military and Arakan Army reached an unofficial ceasefire. But the peace pact has appeared on the verge of total collapse for weeks amid months of escalating military tensions and a series of clashes between the two sides.