Narinjara News,November 22, 2022

Last week artillery shells exploded in Jeitchaungvillage in Maungdaw township, wheremost ethnic Mro people live, killing 12 people including children and injuring more than 20.

Mro National Party has responded by requesting both militaryparties to exercise the utmostrestraint, so that innocent people are not harmed.

The statement of the Mro National Party dated November 21requests the armed forces on bothsides “ to avoid stationing or initiating attacks near residential houses, schools, hospitals, clinics,religious buildings and villages.”

An official of the Mro National Party said, “ The two armed forces we arereferring to the Tatmadaw (theMilitary Council), and the Tat Taw (Arakan Army). The current fighting in the region is between these two factions. Ifboth groups are working to protectthe people, then such incidents should not happen again in the future. We must not allow the people tosuffer. I am asking both organizations toexercise restraint, so that innocent people are not harmed. But thethings that have happened can’t be fixed anymore”.

Mro people are a minority ethnic group in Rakhine State,with a population of only around20000, mainly live in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U townships.

The Mro statement added. “There was no fighting in thevicinity of Jeitchaung village,when three artillery shells exploded inside the village, killing innocent Mro people.” adding that” the entire Mroethnic group is deeply saddened by the fact that the people were deliberately and brutally killed as hostages byan armed organization.”
“Mro National Party doesn’t want to accuse anyorganization of shelling into the villagebut the organization that committed that these things should be aware of its actions, and that these actions areagainst the spirit of Buddhist teachings,”according to the statement.

On November 16 afternoon, 3 artillery rounds fired byKyein Chaung-based Border GuardForces (BGF) 7th Battalion landed and exploded at a child’s ear-piercing ceremony being held in Jeitchaung village, killing 11 peopleincluding 3 children under the ageof 10, and injuring more than 20 villagers.

The injured were sent to hospital, and a15-year-old Grade-7 student died on November18 while receiving treatment at Sittwe Hospital. Other injured have also been sent to some hospitals.

After the shelling that killed innocent civilians, someofficers of the Kyein Chaung militarytactical command center in Maungdaw met with the villagers and said that the shooting was not by their hands,but committed by AA. The villagers said that the Military Council provided rice and 5-lakh kyats for eachcasualty.

In addition, the Military Council-owned newspapers alsoalleged and reported on November18 that the artillery shells that fell in Jeitchaung village were fired by AA. However, some eyewitnesses claim thatthe shelling was actually carried out by the BGF 7th Battalion based in Kyein Chaung. Furthermore, AA alsoissued a statement condemning theactions of the Military Council.