Three villages were destroyed and four civilians, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed in recent ground and air attacks by the Myanmar military in Sagaing Region’s Htigyaing Township, local sources said.
Two junta jets bombed Pauk Kone, Wea Gyi and In Taung villages, located along the eastern shore of the Ayeyarwady River, at around 5pm on March 31, according to Joker, the nom de guerre used by a member of the Htigyaing-based resistance force Special 9.
One of the bombs hit a house located between Wea Gyi and In Taung, killing a couple in their 40s—Soe Naing and Nyo Swe—a woman in her 20s whose name was not available, and the child. Five others were injured.
“They were a family of farmers who were resting in the house, preparing for dinner, when the bombs fell,” he explained. “Three were killed on the spot and the girl died on arrival at the hospital,” said Joker.
The next day, military columns travelling overland arrived in the 1,000-household village of Nyaung Pin Thar, five miles south of Htigyaing town and near the border with Mandalay Region. They occupied the community for three days, during which time they systematically burned nearly all of its homes.
“They even torched and destroyed the local hospital… it was a big village,” a local man told Myanmar Now.
On Sunday, a serious clash broke out between the anti-junta Htigyaing People’s Defence Force and 200 Myanmar army soldiers near the villages of Yadana Aung and Me Zar Lay.
That afternoon, after the Htigyaing PDF had already withdrawn, a military jet reportedly bombed the area twice. The ground troops went on to burn the two nearby villages.
“Two-thirds of Me Zar Lay and Yadana Aung have been destroyed,” an area resident said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the extent of damage to the villages of Me Zar Lay, Yadana Aung and Nyaung Pin Thar.
Earlier clashes between resistance groups and the military broke out on March 20 northeast of Htigyaing town.
The junta has been sending supplies, arms and reinforcement troops up the Ayeyarwady River to Kachin State but have been frequently intercepted by guerrilla forces in Htigyaing, Katha and Myohla townships.
