Four civilians, including three members of the same family, were killed and at least two others injured after Myanmar's military junta carried out an airstrike on Shwe Hlay Village in Thandwe Township, Rakhine State, on July 31, according to a statement released yesterday by the Arakan Army (AA).
According to the statement, the attack took place at around 3:00 p.m. when two junta fighter jets dropped three bombs in succession on the village. The bombs exploded near a shop owned by local resident U Myo Zaw Win, killing the shop owner, his wife Daw May Myat Lwin, and one of the shop's sales assistants, Ma Swe Zin Aye, at the scene.
U Myo Zaw Win's one-year-and-four-month-old son, Maung Nyan Lin Aung, was seriously wounded by bomb shrapnel and later died while being transported to hospital. As a result, a total of four civilians including three members of the same family and one shop employee—lost their lives in the attack.
The statement added that two other civilians near the shop were injured, while several houses, shops, private vehicles, and motorcycles were damaged or destroyed by the explosions.
It also said that at around 10:30 p.m. on July 27, the junta carried out another airstrike using a fighter jet on the site of a former stone-crushing plant near Lin Mu Taung Village in Thandwe Township.
According to the AA's statement, villages inhabited by civilians in Thandwe Township have been subjected to repeated airstrikes, resulting in continued civilian casualties and damage to homes and other civilian property.
Photo – AA Info Desk
