Villagers flee after Tatmadaw air strike

21 Jun 2019

Min Tun | DMG

21 June, Sittwe

More than 600 villagers from Shwe Kyan village in Minbya Township fled from their homes because of an air strike from one of the Tatmadaw’s helicopter gunships on Friday during the intensified clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA near the village.

Even though the village remained unscathed during the air strike villagers still fled from their homes with a growing sense of anxiety.

The fighting occurred on a hill in the east section of the village and there were gunshots and shelling, an administer of the village said.

“We heard gunshots and shelling from the hills east of our village. I heard the launching of heavy artillery, there were about 20 instances of heavy mortar fire from Mrauk-U. Then, two helicopter gunships flew over the hills for about 20 minutes. The air strike covered an area around the hills,” said U Nyo Maung Thein, administrator of Shwe Kyan village.

Displaced villagers include children, pregnant women and elderly people, he added.

A temporary camp of the AA was reportedly attacked by the Tatmadaw, but the AA’s spokesperson Khaing Thukha said that the AA was not positioned near the area where clashes occurred.

“There was a minor clash between our mobile column and a Myanmar Army troop that entered our area. The skirmish lasted for about 20 minutes. Then, the Myanmar Army came with two helicopters and dropped bombs, attacked with rockets and fired guns in the surrounding area. I heard that civilians were scared,” Khiang Thukha said.

“The information that they occupied our camp is not true. We did not have a camp there. There were trenches made by soldiers, that’s a sign that soldiers are in the area. The Tatmadaw thought that it was our camp, but in fact, there was no camp in that area.”

The DMG tried to get comment from the Tatmadaw, but the Tatmadaw True News Information Team could not be reached.