A mother of four was shot in the back while fleeing fighting near her home in northern Rakhine state on Monday.
Ma Tin Kyi, 44, is currently being treated at Mrauk U hospital. She was shot as she fled fighting in Pha Pyo, an ethnically Chin village in Rakhine’s Minbya township that was hit by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) on July 20.
“She heard gunshots and fled her house but was shot in the back when she went outside,” Shwe Kyaw Tin, the victim’s brother-in-law, told Myanmar Now.
“Bullets hit every house in the village but no one was hurt except my sister-in-law,” he added. “Everyone else hid.”
Ma Tin Kyi is the mother of three teenagers and one 20-year-old.
She was first taken to Minbya hospital then later transferred to Mrauk U, where she is currently being treated. Relatives told Myanmar Now she is conscious and responsive but that the bullet is still lodged inside of her.
A military convoy traveling through Minbya to Kan Ni village via the Yangon-Sittwe highway was ambushed by AA troops about six miles from Pha Pyo that night, according to a statement released by the military on Tuesday.
Battalions arrived to support the convoy, the military said, and several Tatmadaw soldiers were injured in the ensuing clash.
Minbya township MP Hla Thein Aung told Myanmar Now shots had been fired from the nearby Kyein Taung hill, and that fighting near Pha Pyo is still ongoing.
“They are still firing artillery shells,” he said Tuesday.
Most of the more than 400 families in Pha Pyo, including Ma Tin Kyi’s, are ethnically Chin. They have largely chosen to remain in the village for now, but they told Myanmar Now they are worried for their safety.
The AA has been fighting the Myanmar military for greater autonomy in Rakhine state since at least 2018. The military and central government have labelled the AA as terrorists.
On April 20, a WHO driver carrying Covid-19 swab samples to testing sites was killed in Minbya when his vehicle caught in fighting.
On July 16 the Tatmadaw announced a new “anti-terrorism” operation against AA insurgents in nearby Rathedaung township.
Two days later – after about a month of relative quiet – fighting in Minbya resumed.
An alliance of ethnic armed groups including the AA said in a July 21 statement that labeling the AA an “unlawful, terrorist” organisation only hinders the stalled peace process between the military and the several ethnic groups fighting for autonomy.
The alliance – consisting of the AA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army – also expressed their desire to resume peace talks.
