Woman Killed,Two Injured in Army Shelling of Sagaing Region Village

Locals say junta troops entered the village to look for food and torched around 20 houses.

By RFA Burmese

The signpost for Maung Htaung village, Budalin township, Sagaing region.Photo Courtesy:Citizen journalist via RFA

A 48-year-old woman was killed and two more women injured by heavy artillery as junta troops shelled and entered a village in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region on Monday.

Locals identified the victim as a woman named Thin, who only goes by one name.

Residents of Maung Htaung village, in Budalin township, told RFA Thin was hit by artillery while she was buying lemons at a local grocery store.

One local, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA an army column shelled the village and then entered it to look for food.

“Military troops entered the village violently and took what they wanted. Even though there is no fighting [here], there is no food where they are stationed in Ku Taw village,” the local said. “Some people could not run away because it happened suddenly.”

The local identified the two injured villagers as Hnin, who also goes by one name, and Yin Nu who both worked at the store. They were also caught in the shelling and are receiving medical treatment at a nearby clinic.

Local residents said although there was no resistance from the villagers, troops burned down around 20 houses.

RFA’s calls to the military council’s Minister for Social Affairs in Sagaing Region went unanswered on Tuesday.

Residents said almost all the villagers have now fled because the army is still there.

Maung Htaung is a large village with more than 1,000 households. Internet access has been cut off since the end of last year when the military council launched a special operation in Sagaing Region.

In a report released Tuesday UNICEF said that as of Aug. 29 the number of displaced people across Myanmar had reached more than 1.3 million. The figure includes those who abandoned their villages due to fighting in the past 19 months, as well groups forced to leave their homes before the coup on Feb. 1 last year.

Sagaing was the worst-hit region with 528,300 people forced to flee their homes, UNICEF said.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) 2,265 people have been killed by the junta across Myanmar in the 19 months since last year’s coup.