Nov 30, 2007 (DVB), Two people were reportedly killed in Maung Daw, Arakan state, after government troops opened fire on a group of villagers cutting wood on 27 November, according to a local women's organisation.

The Arakan Women's Association said on November 28 that they strongly denounced the killing of two local villagers in Maung Daw by the Burmese army for illegally cutting wood.

AWA chairperson Daw Saw Mya Yazar Linn told DVB that two people were killed after the SPDC’s local troops from Northwestern Military Command (3) opened fire on a group of villagers who were cutting woods in a government-reserved timber forest between Butheetaung and Maung Daw townships.

Saw Mya Yazar Linn said an unknown Muslim man died on the spot after the group came under the soldiers’ fire and another villager, Maung Sein Nu, was fatally wounded and admitted to Maung Daw hospital where he died at noon on 28 November.

"It is not clear whether the group of villagers was actually cutting timber illegally or just collecting firewood but the news is all over the area now," said Saw Mya Yarzar Linn.

"Two other villagers who survived the attack, Maung Tin Tun and Aung Thein Tun, are now apparently being held by the military."

Reporting by Khin Maung Soe Min