Clashes in Myanmar town bordering India kill 25

In this photo taken on July 4, members of the internally displaced Rohingya community gather by their makeshift shelters at the Baw Du Pha IDP Camp in Sittwe in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. Pic/AFP

Fresh clashes erupted over the weekend in a Myanmar town located at a border region with India, leading to at least 25 fatalities, sources from the area told IANS.

On July 2, Myanmar troops encircled the Satpyarkyin village, west of the Tabayin township in Sagaing province.

Civilian resistance fighters of the People's Defense Force (PDF) defended the village against nearly 200 troops supported by artillery.

The resistance finally died down on Sunday when PDF fighters ran out of bullets on their hunting rifles and arrows for their bows, PDF commander in Tabayin Si Aung told IANS on Facebook Messenger.

He admitted that during the long fighting for nearly 48 hours, at least 18 PDF members were killed and more than 10 injured.

Aung said four junta soldiers were killed, along with three villagers who were caught in the crossfire. He said at least 40 artillery shells were fired into the village before the soldiers charged.

"They had to retreat many times because of our resistance, but finally we moved out of Satpyarkyin to avoid more casualties and because we had no more bullets left," Aung said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever