Driver killed, two injured as junta soldiers open fire on bus in Thandwe Twsp

By Admin 24 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
24 April 2024, Thandwe

Civilian casualties have been reported in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, where fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) is intensifying, according to local residents.

A driver was killed and a female passenger and a three-wheeled motorbike driver were injured after junta soldiers opened fire on a passenger bus at the TadaU security checkpoint near Shwehlay Village on the Thandwe-Taungup road at about 12 noon on April 22.

“The driver was killed and two others were wounded when regime soldiers shot at a passenger bus. The Thandwe-Taungup road is still closed,” said a local resident in Thandwe.

The 30-year-old deceased from Antaw Village, Thandwe Township, has been identified as Ko Soe Thu, a driver for the Yoema Mandai passenger bus line.

Following the incident, Ko Soe Thu’s body and the injured were sent to Thandwe Hospital via ambulance, said eyewitnesses.

The regime has been firing heavy weapons indiscriminately since April 22, after the military clashed with the AA near Yaykauk Village in Thandwe Township, locals said.

Thousands of local people were displaced by the fighting.

Human rights activists have condemned the regime’s deliberate use of weapons of war to attack civilians.

“The regime’s brutal shooting of civilians who cannot do anything in return is a very bad act,” said a human rights activist.

Clashes are escalating in Ann, Taungup, Thandwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships and civilian casualties are reported on a daily basis due to the regime’s shelling and airstrikes.