Regime artillery strike injures Thandwe Twsp villager

By Admin 10 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
10 May 2024, Thandwe

A local man in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, where fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) is escalating, was severely injured in a junta artillery strike on Thursday evening.

The man has been identified as Ko Aung Ko Latt, 30, from Thabyuchaing Village. He sustained shrapnel wounds while he was riding a bicycle near the Shwehlay Bridge.

“He was seriously injured after he was hit by shrapnel while riding a bicycle. He sustained shrapnel to his left waist and bladder,” said a local resident.

Ko Aung Ko Latt was sent to Shwehlay rural hospital, but he was transferred to Thandwe Hospital due to his serious injuries and medicine insufficiency.

Fierce clashes between the military and AA were reported near Shwehlay, Kwaychaung and Hsuepotegon villages yesterday, with the military firing mortar shells into the scenes of fighting, according to local residents.

Gunfire was heard near Shwehlay, Kwaychaung, Hsuepotegon and Yaykauk villages on Friday, said a local woman from Shwehlay Village.

“The military and AA exchanged fire near four villages today and the fighting is not fierce. We also heard the sound of heavy weapons,” she added.

Civilian casualties were reported and some homes reduced to ashes due to junta artillery shells fired by regime forces on villages where clashes broke out.

A junta jet fighter dropped bombs on a location near Thabyuchaing Village and on Linthi Village on May 7.

Customary international humanitarian law requires any armed organisation to protect civilians and bars them from attacking, abducting or using civilians as human shields or targeting civilian dwellings.

The AA has been stepping up attacks on Myanmar military camps in Thandwe Township that began on April 13, with the regime using its army, navy and air forces to respond to the AA’s assault.