Myanmar army continues ransacking, bombing confluence area villages after quake

After a three-day rampage through the Ayeyarwady-Chindwin river confluence area in Yesagyo Township, Magway Region, the military launched airstrikes in the same area this week that killed two civilians, locals and resistance sources said. More than 150 junta army troops advanced into the villages of Kyu, Sin Kyoe, and Ba La Ba—less than two miles from the northwest bank of the Ayeyarwady—on April 20, clashing with local resistance forces in a series of skirmishes. The air force began bombing villages a few miles to the southwest the following day and again on April 23. The first airstrikes, which occurred on the morning and evening of Monday, April 21, targeted the village of Zee Pin Kone, just southwest of the confluence area on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady. Another air raid struck the village of Sin Ma Ye some three miles to the south at around 9:30 on Wednesday evening. The Wednesday airstrike resulted in the death of a woman, who was hit in the head by shrapnel. An elderly man frightened by the bombing reportedly died of a heart attack the same night in Lay Yar Pyayt village, located a mile to the south on an island in the river. “Last night they dropped bombs on Sin Ma Ye village,” a member of the anti-junta allied forces base in Yesagyo said on Thursday. “The situation is very bad. About five houses were destroyed. Draft cattle were killed. An elderly woman died.” The slain woman in Sin Ma Ye village was identified as Nyo Lin Aung, 43, from Pya Yar Pyayt, and the deceased man in Lya Yar Pyayt was identified as San Myint Kyi, 68. Residents of Ba La Ba—which has a population of around 1,500—said junta troops, who were stationed there for two days, started fires that nearly destroyed the village. Once the troops withdrew, locals said they found spent bullet casings and uniforms with insignia from Light Infantry Division (LID) 101 based in Pakokku, Magway Region. Army uniforms left behind in Ba La Ba village (Photo: Yesagyo Township Info Committee) The military also bombed and fired on the village at least three times from the air on April 17, injuring three people including an elderly villager over 80 years old who lost a leg, and damaging ten houses and a monastery, according to a statement released on April 24 by the Yesagyo Township Information Committee. Troops have been looting civilian homes during their ground raids in these villages, the committee said in its statement, taking people’s property at will and prompting thousands of residents of more than ten villages to flee their homes. The junta forces have now set up positions on the Pakokku-Yesagyo road and in San Thit village, a major entryway to the villages where fighting took place this week, according to the resistance group People’s Defence Forces of Southern Yesagyo (Southern YSO-PDF). Sitting at the junction of Sagaing, Mandalay, and Magway regions, the confluence area has strategic importance for both the armed resistance and regime forces. Army forces also raided villages in the confluence area last month, killing at least 18 civilians including elderly people over the course of about two weeks, resistance sources said. When the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck on March 28 and most of Myanmar’s people were preoccupied with responding to the emergency, the same junta troops that had been raiding the confluence area set up camp in and near the Mi Hpa Yar village tract, some three miles south of Magway Region’s border with Sagaing Region. Ba La Ba village after being burned by junta ground forces and bombed from the air on April 23 (Photo: Yesagyo Township Info Committee) A junta airstrike on the village of Thar Gaung Gyi in the confluence area damaged a school building on Saturday, April 12 around 10am, but most civilians in the area were able to flee to safety quickly and no casualties occurred. However, some 20,000 residents of the confluence area have been displaced since March. Despite declaring a ceasefire from April 2 until the end of the month to allow for repairs and reconstruction after the earthquake, the military regime has in fact escalated airstrikes in certain areas and ground operations have continued. Junta airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians throughout Myanmar, many living in the areas that bore the brunt of the earthquake’s destruction. The air force bombed Mandalay Region’s Thabeikkyin Township, a gold-mining area currently under the control of resistance forces commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG), for three days in a row starting April 18, killing 37 civilians including children and injuring more than 50.

Myanmar army continues ransacking, bombing confluence area villages after quake

In addition to carrying out airstrikes, the military has deployed ground forces to the confluence area between the Chindwin and Ayeyarwady rivers, where soldiers are confiscating property and terrorising villagers even in earthquake-impacted areas

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