Artillery shells kill 2 Rohingya women in Myanmar

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) - At least two Rohingya women were killed after artillery shells hit a village in the Myanmar's western Rakhine state on Friday, according to media reports and a lawmaker.

Narinjara, a local news service, reported that two Rohingya women, 18 and 28, were killed and eight villagers injured when the shells landed in Kin Taung village in Buthidaung Township on early Friday.

Aung Thaung Shwe, a lower house lawmaker from Buthidaung Township, confirmed the incident.

“The incident happened on Friday at around 2.00 a.m. (730GMT). Two houses were directly hit by the shells,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone.

“As a result, two women were killed and eight wounded villagers were taken to hospital in Buthidaung town,” he said.

It remains unclear whether Myanmar military Arakan Army – a predominantly Buddhist ethnic group -- fired the shells.

However, a senior official of Rakhine's regional government believed it was fired from a nearby military battalion.

“Whenever there is an incident in Muslim villages, we found it is due to the military,” said the official on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The incident happened just two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to take measures to protect Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state from genocide.

“This is the clear message from military that they are not accepting the ICJ ruling,” the official told Anadolu Agency by phone on Friday.

“How the government will be able to follow the ICJ’s ruling to take provisional measures since it has no control over the military,” he said.

Anadolu Agency was unable to reach the central government or military for comment.