Mrauk

Over 30 civilians were killed and more than 70 injured in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Maungdaw, Ponnagyun and Minbya townships by junta artillery strikes and arson attacks in the latest fighting.

In Rakhine State’s Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Myebon, Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships, where the fighting has intensified recently, an estimated 15 people have been killed and 63 injured in the first seven weeks of 2020.

SITTWE, Rakhine State—A local resident in Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township died in the Myanmar military’s custody over the weekend, according to the victim’s relatives.

It took her three days to arrive back home to the remote village in western Myanmar: from Bangkok to Myawaddy to Yangon to Mrauk-U, traveling by road, plane and boat.

On Tuesday afternoon, fighting erupted in several rural locations near popular tourist destinations in the ancient city of Mrauk-U.

Regional lawmaker U Tun Tha Sein, who represents of Mrauk-U constituency in the Rakhine State Parliament, helped attend to wounded villagers and bring out the bodies of those killed from the morning.

State parliamentarian U Tun Tha Sein, representing Mrauk-U, said clashes have escalated and more people are being forced from their homes.

YANGON—At least two civilians were shot dead and several were wounded by Myanmar Army troops in a village in northern Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township on Friday morning.

It is because members of the team are away on trips, said secretary of the team U Tun Tha Sein, who is also a lawmaker representing Mrauk-U Township in Rakhine State Parliament.

Mrauk-U resident Ko Khine, who observed bodies arriving at the hospital’s morgue, said he saw three police trucks pull up at the hospital compound and dozens of riot police being deployed there.

The bodies of the deceased and most of those injured during the police crackdown remain in Mrauk-U hospital in Rakhine state.

The demonstrators gathered late on Tuesday in Mrauk U township in the northern part of Rakhine to mark the end of the Arakan kingdom, the secretary of the Rakhine state government, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters.

In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the Kingdom of Mrauk U unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437.

Temples at Mrauk U Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century.