Junta forces in Sagaing Region’s Myaung Township burned more than 90 houses and bombed the two primary bases of a local resistance force this week, according to the anti-regime group.
A spokesperson from the Civilian Defence and Security Organisation of Myaung (CDSOM) said that 300 Myanmar army troops struck the two posts belonging to their group and the Myinmu Civil Revolution Force on Monday.
They also raided two villages, torching 74 homes in Chaung Sin and 17 in Ya Thit. Myanmar Now was unable to contact the locals displaced by the village assaults.
The soldiers in question broke into three columns to carry out the attacks, the CDSOM spokesperson explained, adding that they had travelled to Myaung from Myingyan.
She said that the troops used drones to drop bombs on the defence forces’ bases, causing two people to be injured by shrapnel, including the commander of his group’s assault team, who suffered a head wound.
According to CDSOM, several of their weapons were destroyed, including makeshift explosives, as well as ammunition and computer equipment.
Junta propaganda media reported that the military confiscated supplies from the Myaung Township bases after resistance forces fled, alleging that the sites belonged to the People’s Defence Force (PDF) under the National Unity Government (NUG). Photos of the seized items showed clothing, including uniforms bearing CDSOM’s name, as well as hard drive and keyboards.
CDSOM’s information officer said that her group was not part of the PDF nor had it received support from the NUG.
“Our most important weapons are still intact, but the NUG’s Ministry of Defence does not help us because we are a local defence team,” she told Myanmar Now. “Now both of our bases have been reduced to ashes. We are back to square one.”
Naing Htoo Aung, the secretary of the NUG’s defence ministry, claimed that the institution had provided help to local defence teams that had not transformed into battalions under the PDF battalions, but took into account the scale of their operations.
In December last year, junta forces displaced some 8,000 residents of Myaung in attacks on three other villages in the township: Hpwar Saw, Ka Tote Kone and Hlay Tin Oo.
Around 46 people have been arrested by the military in Myaung since the February 2021 coup, and 25 killed in junta custody, according to CDSOM.
