More than 10,000 people have fled 11 villages in Sagaing Region in recent days amid an onslaught by junta soldiers along the Muu River that has killed several civilians and resistance fighters, witnesses, guerrillas, and a volunteer aid worker have told Myanmar Now.
The column of some 100 soldiers begans the attacks on Thursday, working their way between the towns of Sagaing and Myinmu to depopulate villages along the way that they apparently believed were harbouring or supporting resistance fighters.
About 3,000 homes have now been abandoned or destroyed in the villages of Thazilay, Phayar Hla, Thazin, Nyaung Bin Shae, Ta Laing Kyun, Mutha, Magyikone, San Thit, Taung Myo, Depayin Kwe and Taung Kyar.
Among those, all of Thazilay’s 250 homes were burned down after soldiers set fires, a volunteer from the Sagaing District Medical Force told Myanmar Now. They also burned down Phayar Hla’s 30 homes and all 300 homes in Nyaung Bin Shae, he added.
The internally displaced people–or IDPs–are in need of food, he said.
“All the inhabitants of most of those villages had to flee,” he said. “They had to leave all the cows behind and they still don’t dare to go back. Some of them crossed the Muu River and some fled to Mandalay and Sagaing. We have an IDP camp but no one dares to stay there.”
Two civilians were killed by the fires in Nyaung Bin Shae, a local there said, adding that it had not been possible to take a head count among the fleeing villagers in order to determine the identities of those killed.
After setting fires in three locations in Nyaung Bin Shae, which is next to Phayar Hla, the soldiers set up camp at the local school. On Monday, the soldiers came under attack by an alliance of local resistance groups, and a three-hour battle ensued.
Thura, a leader from a resistance group from Ayadaw Township, said the military had the upper hand in the clash.
“They were behind walls, so they had great defences,” he said. “Soldiers were stationed on the roof of the school and one of them was a sniper. They also used 40mm guns. We didn’t have a good view of them and we only had a few automatic weapons and single-bullet rifles.”
Two fighters from the Zero Guerrilla Force died in the battle.
Ye Zin Aung, who was 22 and was also known as Iman, drowned in the Muu River while trying to retreat, and 24-year-old Nang Myint Aung drowned while trying to rescue him, said Rakhine, Zero Guerrilla Force’s deputy leader.
“We lost two of our comrades as we had no geographical expertise,” Rakhine said. “Both of them had been part of the revolution since the beginning.”
Four members of another local defence force were killed on Saturday during the raid on Ta Laing Kyun village. The resistance fighters greeted the soldiers without realising who they were and the soldiers shot them, according to the Nyaung Bin Shwe villager.
The four who died were: Thar Gyi, 37, Kyaw San Wai, 35, Nyunt Win, 36, and Myo Win Aung, 37, according to locals.
The junta’s forces have burned down 9,187 houses across Myanmar as part of the military’s bid to crush resistance to its February 2021 power grab, according to figures released by Data for Myanmar on April 14. Over half of the houses destroyed were in Sagaing Region.
