One hurt as artillery shell strikes Paletwa Twsp village

By Myo Thiri Kyaw 13 May 2020

Myo Thiri Kyaw | DMG
13 May, Paletwa

An artillery shell landed in Kay Tha village, part of Chin State’s Paletwa Township, on the afternoon of May 12, injuring a villager.

U Oo Than Tin, 50, was hit by shrapnel while he was sitting in the shade of a tree in front of his house, villagers said. He sustained wounds to his right thigh and both arms.

Ko Tin Tun Aung, a member of a charity group in Paletwa Township, said the artillery shell was launched by the No. 289 Infantry Regiment, located more than 2 miles east of Paletwa town. There was gunfire along the mountain range near Kay Tha village on Tuesday, he added.

U Oo Than Tin has been receiving medical treatment from villagers trained in healthcare provision.

DMG phoned the spokesperson of the Tatmadaw’s Western Command, Colonel Win Zaw Oo, and the Tatmadaw True News Information Team’s Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun to seek comment regarding the shelling of the village, but they could not be reached.

DMG also phoned Chin State Minister for Municipal Affairs U Soe Htet, but he too was unavailable.

Ko Tin Tun Aung called on the area’s warring parties to refrain from hostilities in range of civilian populations.

“I want to urge them to wage war in the forest far from residential areas. Villagers have had to flee to Paletwa town during their fighting near villages,” he said.

“About eight villages in Paletwa Township were destroyed because of indiscriminate launching of heavy weapons.”

Conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Arakan and southern Chin states has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and other forms of collateral damage due to landmine explosions, stray heavy weapons and small arms fire, and other combat-adjacent violence.