More than 2,000 people from three villages in Magway Region’s Saw Township fled their homes following escalating fighting between the Myanmar military and the local People’s Defence Force (PDF) in the last week.
The internally displaced persons (IDPs) are from villages along the road connecting Saw with the town of Kyaukhtu.
Gunfire was initially exchanged between the PDF and the military on November 17 near Tawma and Kyinlein, causing heavy casualties to the junta’s side, according to the Saw PDF.
The military responded by sending two MI 35 helicopters as reinforcement, which fired automatic weapons at the PDF’s positions.
As the fighting intensified, locals from the three nearest villages—Tawma, Kyinlein and Thalel—fled.
According to a displaced man from Kyinlein, more than 1,000 people from his 300-household village, including children and the elderly, have taken shelter in the nearby forests.
Another 1,000 people from Tawma and Thalel also left their homes, he added.
“We have been moving from one place to another any time we hear about the military coming into the woods. We haven’t even been able to sleep well,” he said, adding that food supplies were scarce and that villagers were collecting edible plants and drinking water from creeks and streams to survive. Many children have reportedly been falling ill as a result.
Those who were unable to run took refuge in the Kyinlein monastery, until junta troops arrived on Sunday and told them to return to their homes.
The soldiers allegedly said that anyone found in the forests would be seen as rebels and shot, according to an officer from the Saw PDF.
“The military told the people at the monastery to go home and to bring the people in the woods back home as well,” the officer told Myanmar Now.
The military convoy that was targeted and surrounded by resistance forces in Saw was assisted by another unit of more than 100 soldiers, and are now operating along the Saw-Kyaukhtu road.
Junta troops forced locals from Kyinlein and Tawma to guide their soldiers through the area and allegedly tortured them, the Saw PDF officer said.
“One of the two villagers that was taken from Tawma village by the military was stabbed in the thigh. The other one’s face was all swollen from being beaten,” he explained.
The officer also said that a PDF scouting team that had been monitoring the convoy’s movements was spotted by the soldiers and shot at on Sunday, killing one member.
Myanmar Now tried to contact the military council spokesperson for comment on the PDF’s claims, but the calls went unanswered.
The convoy that was trapped in Saw was a unit of more than 60 soldiers who had travelled from Kanpetlet Township in Chin State. They were attacked on November 17 by a coalition made up of the Saw PDF, Mindat Chinland Defence Force, resistance forces from Kanpetlet and Yaw Defence Force teams from Saw and Kyaukhtu.
The three-day battle resulted in the death of at least 20 junta soldiers and that of two resistance fighters, according to the Saw PDF officer, but Myanmar Now has been unable to independently verify the claim.
The local defence forces typically intercept military units travelling to and from Chin State along the road in question.
