Junta troops torch Mrauk-U Twsp village

By Admin 15 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
15 January 2024, Mrauk-U

Junta soldiers torched Baung Dwet Village near Mrauk-U town in Arakan State at around 11 a.m. on Monday, according to local residents.

Fighting has intensified in Mrauk-U between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) since January 11. Junta battalions 378 and 377 are located near Baung Dwet Village.

“Junta soldiers torched the village. We saw clouds of smoke from a distance,” said a resident of Baung Dwet Village.

DMG is still trying to find out how many houses were burnt down.

The emptied village was home to 2,000 people across 400 households. Baung Dwet Village was deserted during the previous fighting in 2019.

Residents in Mrauk-U said they saw smoke from the direction of Baung Dwet Village.

Fighting has been raging in Arakan State for more than two months, with the regime increasingly carrying out artillery strikes and arson attacks of late.

One Mrauk-U resident said: “Our town is no longer safe. There are artillery strikes every day. Houses were damaged in urban wards. Artillery shells often landed on villages on the outskirts of the town. They have been deliberately shelling houses, and we have been forced to stay on farms.”

On Sunday, a private high school in Letkaung Zay Ward in Mrauk-U town was hit and burnt by a junta artillery strike. Light Infantry Battalion No. 377 based in Mrauk-U was responsible for the artillery strike.

One young man from Mrauk-U said: “The military regime is losing ground. So, the regime is targeting civilians, and continuously committing war crimes.”

Junta troops torched houses in Tawkan Village, Sittwe Township, on Monday morning. More than 300,000 people have been displaced by the fighting over the past two months. Civilian casualties from junta artillery strikes continue to rise.