Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m.
A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital.
He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.”
Details of what occurred were not yet known.
A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung.
Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have sent them to Mrauk-U Hospital,” U Sein Hla Aung told The Irrawaddy.
The Myanmar army and Arakan Army (AA) have been clashing near the village since Sunday, said residents, adding that they did not know which side fired the shell.
Mrauk-U Township parliamentarian U Tun Tha Sein confirmed the incident to The Irrawaddy.
The village has an ethnic Mro population belonging to a regional sub-tribe with over 70 households and around 300 villagers.
On Sunday, five civilians, including three children, were injured after the Myanmar military allegedly shelled Yar Shay Pyin Village in Mrauk-U Township.
The fighting between the military and the Arakan Army has been intensifying for more than a year and civilian casualties and arrests are increasing.
In late September, the Rakhine State parliament approved a proposal by U Tun Tha Sein which urged the government to investigate civilian deaths amid clashes in Rakhine State. The state government is yet to give any response to the proposal, said U Tun Tha Sein.
He said in September that 82 civilians had been killed and 126 had been injured since January. More recent figures are not available.
