Myanmar airstrike on displaced persons camp kills 12
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PONNAGYUN, Myanmar: A Myanmar military airstrike on a camp housing people displaced by the civil war killed 12 people in the westernmost state of Rakhine, witnesses and a rescue worker said on Saturday (Nov 14).
Chit Su Wai, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, sobbed as she described how her daughter, aunt and mother were killed on Friday evening in Byar La IDP camp in Ponnagyun township, northeast of state capital Sittwe.
"All I saw was their bodies scattered in pain. I could not find words to describe it. And we were lost with crying," she said.
"It has broken our family. There were no others except my family. We did not hear the sound of the fighter jet - it just came and dropped the bombs."
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Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military staged a coup five years ago, provoking armed resistance from democracy activists and ethnic minority factions that have long held sway in the nation's fringes.
The western coastal state of Rakhine is among the regions worst hit by the war. Controlled almost entirely by the ethnic minority Arakan Army (AA), it has been blockaded by the military and pummelled with regular airstrikes.
It was not possible to contact the Myanmar military for comment on the latest attack.
Chit Su Wai said 12 people died in Friday's attack, a toll confirmed by Khine Hein Htet, chairman of the Phyusin Yin Khwin Foundation, a rescue and emergency service.
Khine Hein Htet said a five-year-old was among the dead, while 18 were also injured in the camp, where many residents had been living for four years.
"They believed the camp was safe, and they sheltered there together. When we arrived at the scene, most of the victims had died in one place," the 24-year-old said.
He said it was not a combat area, adding: "We never thought this camp would be targeted."
ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus
Following a 2021 military coup, ASEAN has excluded Myanmar from high-level meetings as it has yet to make meaningful progress on the bloc's Five-Point Consensus to end hostilities.
During a meeting in April 2021, all ASEAN leaders reached a consensus about the situation in Myanmar.
The five points are:
First, there shall be immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint.
Second, constructive dialogue among all parties concerned shall commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people.
Third, a special envoy of the ASEAN chair shall facilitate mediation of the dialogue process, with the assistance of the secretary-general of ASEAN.
Fourth, ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre.
Fifth, the special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned.
COLLAPSED HOUSES
The village was a mess of collapsed bamboo houses on Saturday, the wreckage of an upturned vehicle mixed among the debris of household goods and clothes.
Locals had already removed the bodies, wrapping them in yellow and red plastic and burying them in makeshift graves.
Aung Kyaw Min, a 45-year-old tuktuk driver, described how he rushed to the village where his brother and sister lived after hearing of the attack.
"My sister's body was already headless while my brother was lying dead," he said, crying.
The next day, he discovered his mother had also been killed, while other relatives, including a 10-year-old, were missing.
His sister was a seamstress who took care of their mother. His brother was a tuktuk driver like him.
"Now all of them - my sister, brother, including my mother - were all killed. My niece and nephews are still missing, I don't know where to find them," he said.
The ACLED monitor estimates that more than 100,000 people have been killed in Myanmar on all sides since the civil war began.
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