Myanmar to probe attack on UN vehicle

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar government has formed a panel to investigate the attack on a UN vehicle in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.

A local staff of the World Health Organization was killed after the vehicle came under attack in Rakhine state’s Minbya Township.

The vehicle was transporting swab samples of suspected COVID-19 patients from state capital Sittwe to the country’s commercial capital Yangon.

More than a week after the fatal incident that was condemned by the US and UN, Myanmar’s President Win Myint ordered to probe the death of the WHO staff.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Win Myint instructed the panel, led by chair of lower house’s Citizens’ Fundamental Rights Committee, to conduct the investigation in accordance with the international standards and to come up with recommendations to prevent further similar incidents.

However, it did not set any deadline for the committee to submit its finding to the president.

The area has frequently seen armed fighting between the government troops and Arakan Army, a predominantly Buddhist ethnic rebel group.

Fighting has intensified in Rakhine and adjacent Chin state since last month when Myanmar government declared the Arakan Army a terrorist organization.

Rakhine state has not yet reported a confirmed case of COVID-19 although the virus spread in other parts of the country.

According to health authorities, there are 150 coronavirus-related cases in Myanmar with six fatalities and 16 recoveries as of Wednesday.