Myanmar army convoy prompts thousands to flee their homes in Magway Region

Some 3,000 civilians fled from 25 villages between Pakokku and Pauk, Magway Region on Tuesday, evading a massive junta reinforcement convoy making its way through the area, according to local and resistance sources. The convoy of at least 180 vehicles—including 28 vehicles carrying troops and their families—reached as far as the villages of Nyaung Pin Hla and Kan Taw, some nine miles west of Pakokku. “The convoy is transporting around 400 junta troops including their family members. We spotted children on their vehicles,” said a resistance scout who has been monitoring the convoy’s movements. “We also spotted four bulldozers and four armored vehicles.” Nyaung Pin Hla is located less than three miles east of Kamma, a small town under the control of the military regime in Pakokku Township. A junta scout unit arrived in Yae Pyar, Pauk Township ahead of the convoy on Sunday, prompting almost a thousand residents of nearby villages to flee their homes. “At least 150 people have run because of the junta scout unit that came to Yae Pyar,” said a man from Tha Mar Taw, a neighbouring village. Yae Pyar is around 13 miles east of Pauk, roughly halfway to Kamma. Junta troops have also been deployed to Shwe Hlan and Nga Moet Gyi villages near Yae Pyar but have not advanced further, and no clashes with resistance forces have been reported in Pauk Township so far. According to local sources, villagers have fled from at least seven other villages in Pauk Township on the Pakokku-Kamma-Pauk highway, anticipating the arrival of the convoy. Resistance forces claim to have placed explosives in the path of the convoy on Tuesday, damaging at least one vehicle. “A vehicle moved ahead of the convoy to clear landmines, but it hit one and then pulled back,” a resistance fighter from Kamma said. “There were probably casualties, as they brought back some injured troops.” Last week, junta troops conducted raids near Kamma, setting fire to a local resistance base, according to resistance sources. At least two people were injured last month when a junta warplane bombed a clinic in Gyoe Pyan, two miles west of Kamma.

Myanmar army convoy prompts thousands to flee their homes in Magway Region

The vehicles were reportedly carrying hundreds of junta troops as well as their family members, according to resistance sources who spotted children on the trucks

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