Junta artillery strike kills IDP student in Rathedaung Twsp

By Admin 05 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
5 January 2024, Rathedaung

A student at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) was killed in an artillery strike on Kharuchaung Village, part of Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township, at about 9 p.m. on January 4.

The 18-year-old victim, identified as Ma Su Myat from Yaysoechaung Village, took refuge at a displacement camp in Kharuchaung Village. She succumbed to shrapnel wounds after a mortar shell fired by a junta base in Yaysoechaung Village, Rathedaung Township, fell in Kharuchaung Village.

“The regime forces fired at least five mortar shells yesterday. She sustained shrapnel wounds to her left arm after one of the mortar shells landed and exploded in the village,” said a family member of Ma Su Myat.

Thousands of local people from not only Kharuchaung but also nearby villages such as Thaingtapoke, Yaykaungchaung and Kyaukseikpyin are worried about their safety as the military fires mortar shells into the village without there being any fighting in the area.

“There was no fighting yesterday. We are concerned for our safety and dare not stay in the village due to the junta artillery strikes,” said a local man from Thaingtapoke Village.

A local man was killed and four others were injured by junta artillery strikes on Laigwin Village in Rathedaung Township on November 24.

“The regime forces intentionally fire heavy weapons into residential areas and no place is safe,” said a local man in Arakan State.

Civilian casualties continue to rise in Arakan State and neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township, inflicted primarily by regime airstrikes, artillery strikes and drone attacks since renewed fighting broke out on November 13.