August 30th, 2022
Fighting between the Burmese army and the Arakan Army (AA) recently flared up again in Rakhine State. On August 27th and 29th, four civilians were killed and eight injured in heavy artillery fire by junta soldiers.
On August 27th, Burmese army artillery shells struck Mingyi village in Maungdaw township, killing a woman over 60 years old, according to local residents.
Also, on August 28th, heavy artillery fire from the Burmese army’s 377th Light Infantry Battalion, based in Marauk-U, struck Kin Seik village in Mrauk-U township, killing three civilians, including a child, and injuring eight.
The Burmese army and the AA clashed near Lekka village yesterday but deliberately fired heavy artillery at Kin Seik village, where there was no fighting, said a resident of Kin Seik village who did not want to be named.
“The fighting broke out near Lekka village to the north of the 377th Light Infantry Battalion. Kin Seik village is to the west of the battalion. So, there is no connection at all. They [the military council] deliberately directed their artillery fire at our village,” he said.
The Rakhine community has condemned the military council’s actions, which have resulted in civilian casualties in Maungdaw and Mrauk-U townships.
U Pe Than, a veteran Rakhine politician, said the military council’s statement that “if fighting resumes in Rakhine State, people should not blame them” indicates that they will harm the people of Rakhine State.
“They missed the main target and hit elsewhere, which has nothing to do with the fighting. The main goal of the military council is to harm the people, not the military camps of AA. For now, everyone should remain vigilant, whether there is fighting or not,” he said.
On August 28th, the Arakan State Students’ Association said that the Burmese army’s shelling of residential areas with heavy weapons, which has resulted in injuries and deaths, is an inhumane act and that they strongly condemn it.
“The military council is carrying out indiscriminate shelling of the residential areas of innocent civilians. We strongly condemn the inhumane act of the military council because we consider this indiscriminate shelling as a fascist practice,” said Ko Tun Nain Lin, a member of the Arakan State Students’ Union Central Committee.
The statement of the students’ union further said that the members of the military council and the ministers appointed by the military council, who are from Rakhine State and turn a blind eye to the fact that the military council has cut off the transportation routes of the people in Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Mrauk-U townships, including Paletwa township in Chin State, and that they have indiscriminately shelled the residential areas with heavy weapons, are considered as the culprits of Rakhine State’s history and that they strongly condemn it.
The Arakan Union (Japan) also said on August 28th that the military council fired heavy weapons at residential areas, arrested civilians, obstructed the movement of goods, and committed blatant war crimes this August.
The Arakan Union (Japan) said the military council should leave Rakhine State immediately if it continues to commit war crimes against the people of Rakhine State.
Development Media Group (DMG) has contacted the Minister of Security and Border Affairs, Colonel Kyaw Thura, and the junta spokesman, General Zaw Min Tun, but they have not yet returned the calls.
Fighting between the Burmese army and the AA flared up again in late 2018, but was ended by an informal ceasefire between the two sides in the first week of November 2020.
After nearly a year of relative calm in the state, tensions between the two sides resumed in late 2021, eventually leading to frequent fighting.
In 2022, fighting between the Burmese army and AA flared up again after both sides arrested members of the other side, and clashes are currently occurring in Maungdaw and Mrauk-U townships.
Sent by DMG