Junta column burns 20 villages in Sagaing’s Wetlet Township

A junta column pushing through Wetlet Township in Sagaing Region has raided and torched at least 20 villages since early November as it attempts to reassert control over the strategically vital Shwebo–Mandalay Road, local resistance forces say.Junta troops carrying out continuous raids in western Wetlet since November 4 have torched a string of villages along the Shwebo–Mandalay Road, according to the Wetlet Township People’s Strike Steering Committee. “The column has been moving through these areas with about 100–150 troops from the permanent camp,” a member of the Wetlet Township People’s Strike Steering Committee told Myanmar Now.“They split into two groups as they advanced, torching every village they entered and destroying everything in their path.”Residents say they have been unable to assess the full scale of destruction while junta troops remain in the area, though early estimates suggest hundreds of homes may have been burned. Several of the affected villages—including Kyee Kan, Pin Zin and Ta Mar Kone—have been hit before, and Mu Gyi has now been torched at least four times.Data for Myanmar, which tracks arson attacks, reports that more than 100,000 homes have been destroyed nationwide since the coup, over 76,000 of them in Sagaing Region. “They seem to be targeting control of the Shwebo–Mandalay Road. In western Wetlet Township, they have set villages on fire from Sar Taung onward, following earlier raids in the eastern part,” a resistance fighter in Wetlet Township told Myanmar Now.“Their operations appear to be carried out sequentially, and with the highway in the west, it seems they are trying to regain control of it.”Wetlet Township is located in Shwebo District in central Sagaing Region, northwest of Mandalay. The area sits along key transport routes—including the Shwebo–Mandalay Road—and has seen sustained clashes and military operations since the 2021 coup. Wetlet is mostly rural, with most residents relying on farming and seasonal labor.The township has been one of the hardest-hit areas in Sagaing during the junta’s clearance campaigns, facing repeated raids, arson attacks, and mass displacement over the past three years. Junta troops have established permanent positions along the Shwebo–Mandalay Road—at Sar Taung in Sagaing Township, in Ywar Thar Gyi and Saing Naing Kwayt in Wetlet Township, and near the entrance to Shwebo.Resistance forces say the column has been raiding and burning villages on both sides of the road to tighten its control over the Wetlet section.Wetlet Township is not part of the junta’s upcoming elections, though neighboring Shwebo and Sagaing townships are slated for phase one in late December. Around 20,000 people from the burned villages and nearby areas have fled Wetlet and cannot return while junta troops remain. Local rights groups say the displaced civilians urgently need food, medicine, and warm clothing. “The junta’s raids have cut off the main supply road, leading to food shortages, and the shelters where people are staying also lack adequate water,” a member of the Wetlet Township People’s Strike Steering Committee said.“With winter approaching, blankets, warm clothing, and proper shelter are urgently needed, particularly for children and the elderly.”As junta troops advance through Wetlet, they are also raiding Khin-U Township in Shwebo District, forcing nearly 20,000 residents from Khin-U and the neighboring areas of Ye-U and Kanbalu townships to flee.Resistance groups say the military has intensified operations across northern Sagaing Region in recent weeks, pushing columns through Kanbalu, Khin-U and Ye-U townships and burning villages along the way. The surge in military activity underscores the junta’s effort to reassert control over key areas of Sagaing Region ahead of the planned election.

Junta column burns 20 villages in Sagaing’s Wetlet Township

Local resistance forces say hundreds of homes have been destroyed and some 20,000 people displaced as the military intensifies operations along the Shwebo–Mandalay Road

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