NANG SENG NOM — Two houses were hit by bullets in Hsenwi town, northern Shan State, after Burma Army soldiers guarding a bridge opened fire on a motorbike driver last week.

The soldiers reportedly tried to signal the motorbike to stop at the bridge at 11:00 p.m. for an inspection on June 6, but the driver kept going.

“When the motorbike driver passed the bridge, the security forces tried to stop him. But the driver didn’t stop his motorbike, and the soldiers opened fire,” Sai Oo Kham, a Hsenwi Township parliamentarian, told SHAN. “No bullets hit the motorbike driver, but they hit two houses near the bridge.”

The bullets hit the houses’ roofs and walls. Military officials took note of the damage and reportedly said they would take action against the soldiers who opened fire.

“I heard the sound of five to ten rounds of bullets shot. Three bullets hit my house,” Sai Kyaw Khine, whose house was affected, told SHAN. “We were lucky. We were asleep,” he added.

Sai Kyaw Khine said that military officials promised to pay them compensation of the bullets were deemed to have hit valuable property.

“The thought came into my mind, ‘what if the bullet hit a person?’ We have to worry about this. We don’t want this to happen again in the future,” he explained.

The residents of the two houses hit by the gunshots have demanded that soldiers not shoot in areas where civilians live.