A 13-year-old girl was killed and another child was injured when their village was hit by artillery fire from a nearby military base in northern Rakhine State’s Rathedaung Township on Wednesday.
Residents of the area say the shelling began shortly before 11am and hit several local villages, including Pain Taw, where the two casualties were reported.
Junta forces stationed at the Yae Soe Chaung tactical base, located about 20km north of the town of Rathedaung, fired at least four artillery shells at the villages, locals said.
According to a resident of Pain Taw, the girl who died was hit in the back as she and her family were fleeing.
“A shell fell about six feet from their house and she was thrown about 20 feet away by the explosion. She was killed instantly. There was nothing left of her spine and all her internal organs were crushed,” said the villager.
The girl—eighth-grade student Nyein Aye San—was killed at around 11:20am, the Pain Taw resident added.
The other victim, who was identified as the five-year-old son of a villager named San San Oo, reportedly suffered only a minor head injury.
“His head was just grazed,” said the villager who spoke to Myanmar Now, adding that the entire village has been evacuated since the incident.
Pain Taw residents were also forced to flee their homes during a two-year conflict between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) that ended in late 2020.
Although the two sides have since resumed fighting, no clashes were reported in the area on Wednesday.
The other villages affected by the shelling were Kalarchaung and Ohn Taw, sources said.
The shelling in Rathedaung comes just days after at least four people were killed in two similar incidents in Minbya and Kyauktaw townships on Monday.
According to local sources, artillery fired by troops stationed at the Kyein Taung pagoda in Minbya killed two people in the village of Phalaungpyin, including an 11-year-old child, and one in the village of Daunt Chaung Gyi, and injured several others.
Later the same day, a 30-year-old Rohingya woman reportedly died when regime forces fired on Kyauktaw’s Pike The ward from a security checkpoint on the town’s Kissapanadi Bridge.
