Junta troops shot at a ferry carrying 10 primary school students, killing two of them and injuring three in Rimawa Village, in Chin State's Paletwa Township, at around 3:00p.m. on 2 August.

The boat is a regular ferry from Rimawa Village to Tumongwa Village. The students were on the ferry on their way home from school when fighting broke out between the Arakan Army (AA) and junta forces. Then, the junta soldiers stationed on the hill in Namada targeted the ferry boat and continuously fired bursts of machine gun fire at the ferry boat, according to a Paletwa resident.

"Fighting broke out between the AA and regime forces at 10:00 a.m. [and went on] till 3:00 p.m. in Thahtaykone, an abandoned village on the Kyauktaw to Paletwa road. The students who were shot at did not know there was fighting on their route home from school. 

They were hit by bullets. Two students were killed on the spot and three others, including a member of staff from the school, were injured", the witness said.

"The two students who were killed were in the sixth grade [age 11 years] and the fourth grade [age nine years], the two injured students are both sixth graders and they are currently receiving medical treatment at Paletwa Hospital. We don't yet have any details about their injuries", said a local resident.

Then after shooting at the ferry and killing and injuring the students the junta soldiers stopped the boat and took away the students, their teacher and the boat owner for questioning, before later releasing them. 

The same local resident added: "Both the injured people and the boat owner were summoned and questioned. They were then let go. The injured students have now been admitted to Paletwa Hospital."

Also, on 2 August the AA and junta troops clashed in Paletwa Township's Waelataung Village and Ngrang Chaung Village.

Mizzima tried contacting the AA to get more information but had received no answer before going to press.