Myanmar’s military regime gave K500,000, 10 sacks of rice and a bottle of cooking oil to the victims of recent artillery strikes in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, locals told DMG.
Eleven residents were killed and 24 others were injured after three mortar shells struck Jeitchaung Village on Wednesday.
Villagers have claimed that the regime was responsible for the fatal shelling. Myanmar military officers, however, attempted to shift blame to the Arakan Army as they provided the food supplies and cash to victims and their families on Thursday.
“They [the regime] summoned villagers and showed them a map. They pointed to a location on the map and said there was an AA [base] there and they fired mortar shells from there. They gave K500,000 for all those killed and injured. They gave 10 sacks of rice yesterday and five
more sacks today,” said a source.
The tactical commander from Kyeinchaung checkpoint No. 24 and a police colonel from the border guard police station No. 7 summoned villagers to a meeting on Thursday, where they claimed that the military had nothing to do with deadly shelling.
Some of the injured were admitted to Maungdaw Hospital. Two of them had serious injuries and were transferred to Sittwe Hospital on Thursday.
Jeitchaung residents have fled to nearby villagers since Wednesday’s shelling, said a resident.
“There was no shelling today. But we still dare not return home,” he said.
Jeitchaung villagers have accused the military’s security checkpoint No. 24 in Kyeinchaung Village and the local Border Guard Force of firing the mortar shells at the village.
The Facebook page of the pro-junta media outlet Rakhine Daily also put the blame on the AA for the Jeitchaung Village massacre. The AA, on the other hand, has denied any involvement in the shelling, and has vowed revenge for the regime’s artillery strikes targeting villages, calling them war crimes.
Jeitchaing Village is home to more than 470 ethnic Mro people from 55 households. The locals primarily engage in farming for their livelihoods.
Caption: A Myanmar military tactical commander at Kyeinchaung Hospital. (Photo: ABN)
