Six civilians have been killed in Myanmar junta airstrikes in Taungup Township, Rakhine State, in three days.
An airstrike on Tuesday reportedly killed two teenagers and a woman and wounded several other Kanseik villagers on Pandin Island.
Villagers said it was an unprovoked and deliberate attack on civilians, which also destroyed houses. Residents fled the village following the bombing.
A resident said: “One of the victims just gained three distinctions in her university entrance exams. Some houses collapsed after being hit by the bomb.”
Two women, including a pregnant woman, were killed in Thinkyi Kaing village in an airstrike following a clash with the Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday night around 3km north of Taungup town.
A 17-year-old Ywar Thit Kel villager died of his injuries at Taungup Hospital after an airstrike on Saturday, bringing the death toll to six in three days.
The junta shelled the outskirts of Taungup on June 8 and 11 and carried out an airstrike on Saturday morning before clashing with AA troops at night.
The Saturday fighting was the first in Taungup town. Clashes were reported between Thandwe and Taungup townships in southern Rakhine State two months ago.
The regime and AA clashed near Taungup University on Saturday night, prompting junta shelling and airstrikes, said residents.
The 5th Military Operations Command based in Taungup town conducted shelling on Tuesday, with a shell landing in the compound of the Taungup University rector’s house.
Many Taungup residents are trapped in the town by the junta’s blockade and the regime is barring civilians from digging bomb shelters.
Thandwe villagers around 30km south of Taungup have dug bomb shelters amid more than two months of fighting.
However, junta soldiers reportedly forced villagers to demolish them, beating and threatening residents.
The junta was unavailable for comment.
