SITTWE, Rakhine State — A 45-year-old woman was seriously injured when an artillery shell hit Hteik Htoo Pauk, a Muslim village in Rakhine State’s Buthidaung Township, on Sunday evening.
“It happened at around 8 p.m. She was sitting in front of her house after dinner when an artillery shell fell near her house and she was hit by fragments. She was hit all over her body from head to her legs,” a village elder told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.
The case was reported to soldiers stationed on a hill near the village and the victim was taken to Buthidaung’s hospital.
A cow and dog at the victim’s house were killed by the artillery explosion. Villagers said they did not see from which direction the shell came.
Buthidaung deputy administrator U Hla Shwe confirmed the case. “She is now receiving hospital treatment,” he told The Irrawaddy.
According to the community elder, Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army have frequently clashed in the mountains near the village.
On Oct. 8, a 60-year-old Muslim villager in Sin The Pyin in Buthidaung Township was fatally shot by soldiers stationed on a hill near the village.
The Rakhine Ethnic Congress said in July that 63 civilians had been killed since January in clashes, while 53 were injured by landmines and ordnance. It said nine people had gone missing and 156 had been abducted, without providing details.
Many more have been killed, injured and detained since July.
Both the government’s Peace Commission and the AA have spoken about the potential of signing a bilateral ceasefire agreement. But clashes continue to increase across northern Rakhine State since the first clashes were reported last November.
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