Junta shelling injures Muslim child in Buthidaung Twsp

By Admin 15 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
15 December 2023, Buthidaung

A Muslim boy was reportedly injured after a mortar shell fired by regime forces landed and exploded near Wahcheelah Village, part of Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township, on Thursday morning.

A mortar shell fired by the military’s Buthidaung-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 565 fell near Wahcheelah Village at about 10 a.m. yesterday, injuring Abdul Rahman, 11.

“He was herding his cattle when the artillery shell fell near the village’s cemetery. He received shrapnel wounds to his thigh and his condition is considered not life-threatening,” said a local man in Wahcheelah Village.

The injured child has reportedly been admitted to Buthidaung Hospital.

Local people in the village are worried about their safety due to the junta’s shelling without there being fighting in the area.

“The military’s LIB 565 fired about 15 mortar shells yesterday. Three mortar shells landed near the village. There are unexploded mortar shells,” said another resident of Wahcheelah Village.

Two mortar shells fired by the military’s Buthidaung-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 565 fell near Wahcheelah Village on November 27, killing three people working on a pepper farm and injuring five others.

Fighting in Arakan State remains oftentimes intense and civilian casualties have continued to rise due largely to the junta’s indiscriminate use of heavy weapons.

So far at least 26 people were killed and 110 others have been injured in Arakan State and neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township during the latest hostilities, according to a DMG tally. At least 26 Muslim casualties, including eight fatalities, have been reported to date in Arakan State during the latest hostilities between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army.

Editor’s Note: The death toll does not include residents of Pauktaw, where the fighting was ongoing at press time.