Five civilians injured in mortar attack

02 October 2019
Five civilians injured in mortar attack
An injured monk is brought to the Sittwe Hospital in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 01 October 2019. Five people were reportedly injured after Myanmar security forces opened fire in the village of Mein Wa near Kyauk Taw township. According to local media reports, approximately 50,000 people have fled to temporary camps in recent weeks as fighting continues in the restive Rakhine state. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA

Five civilians were injured early Tuesday by mortar shelling in Rakhine state, with some local residents accusing the government military of intentionally launching the assault on their community, RFA reported.

The shells exploded in Meewa village in Kyauktaw township around 1 a.m., hitting homes and a nearby Buddhist monastery, and injuring the abbot, a novice monk, a teacher, and two students, a village official and a relief worker from a local humanitarian group said.

Village administrator Aung Kyaw Nyunt told RFA’s Myanmar Service that mortar shells that appeared to be deliberately aimed at the community hit the area while most people were asleep, damaging many houses and the monastery.

Brigadier General Win Zaw Oo, spokesman for the Myanmar military’s Western Regional Command responsible for Rakhine state, said rebels near the village initiated the attack, forcing Myanmar troops to fire back.