Junta’s artillery shelling hits Mrauk-U archaeological museum, destroys stone inscription

 The junta troops have fired artillery shells at the archaeological museum in Nan Yar Kone of  Mrauk-U township resulting in destruction of stone inscriptions.

From the night of 24 December till this morning, the military council battalions indiscriminately fired artillery shells at the urban areas. One of the artillery shells hit the Mrauk-U archaeological museum and subsequently exploded.

According to a custodian of the cultural heritage, the shell hit the museum's stone inscriptions causing significant damages.

"It has been reported that an artillery shell landed in the stone inscriptions’ room, where a large number of stone inscriptions were preserved. It also damaged some inscriptions," he added.

The museum is precious for the ancient heritage of  Rakhine people. Now it’s apprehended that other historical art-facts might have suffered damages by the artillery shell.

Narinjara News continues its effort to get official information about the damages, but has not yet succeeded.

An intense gun fighting  erupted between the Arakan Army (AA) and junta forces in Mrauk-U township yesterday. The relentless firing of artillery shells by the soldiers resulted in explosions in Mrauk-U urban areas and caused damages to some residential buildings.

The houses belonging to U Zaw Aung, a vendor of consumer goods & beauty products, Tun Theingi’s gold shop,  U Tun Aye Kyaing and U Maung Saw Tun in Taung Yat ward were damaged.