Myanmar army troops torch hundreds of houses in Myingyan Township

The Myanmar army carried out retaliatory arson attacks on civilian homes in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region on Saturday and Sunday after resistance groups attacked regime-controlled bases and villages. According to local sources, fighting is ongoing along the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River after fires set by junta forces destroyed more than 300 houses in five villages. On Saturday, junta troops torched more than 60 houses in Sin Chaung (South) village, more than 70 in Sin Chaung (North) village, and an unknown number in Nyaung To, according to Sai Ja Lu, a leader of the Myingyan Township People's Defense Team (PDT). On April 21, they burned 200 houses in Kaing village and an unknown number in Yan Ta Po village, he said. Myingyan District is a relative stronghold for the armed resistance to the military regime. Battalion 2 of the Myingyan District People’s Defense Force (PDF)—commanded by the publicly mandated, shadow National Unity Government (NUG)—as well as other local resistance forces launched coordinated assaults on two villages and two junta bases in the area on Saturday morning. The resistance forces captured two villages controlled by junta-trained Pyu Saw Htee militias, according to Bo Thikyar, the commander of Myingyan District PDF Battalion 2. Anti-junta fighters also timed their capture of a junta base camp in Kyi village on the Ayeyarwady River to coincide with an attack on the army’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 15 base in Myingyan, Bo Thikyar said, and used 107mm rockets and drones to attack a warship in the Si Mee Khon riverport and a nearby police station at the same time. "In the past, we used landmines against them. We had to shoot at them and run away. Now, as the war has escalated, we’re able to capture their larger camps and bases," Bo Thikyar said. “The first one we captured was the army camp in Kaing village. Then we captured Nyaung To village where the Pyu Saw Htee militia members were stationed. Finally, we seized Kyi village. We also have plans for further military operations,” he added. A total of 80 junta troops—including both junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militia members—were stationed in Kyi. Their base is said to provide aid and protection for junta warships in the Si Mee Khon riverport, which is opposite Myaung Township, Sagaing Region and a short distance upriver from Yesagyo Township, Magway Region on the northwest banks of the Ayeyarwady. The Saturday attack on Kyi resulted in casualties on the junta side, and the resistance succeeded in capturing a 60mm mortar and two MA3 rifles from junta troops. One operational officer on the resistance side was killed, and eight other fighters were wounded, according to Bo Thikyar. There was also at least one junta casualty during the resistance forces’ attack on the LIB 15 base in Myingyan, he said, and one of two junta ships moored at the Si Mee Khon riverport sustained damage. Following the resistance forces’ attacks, an army column of around 100 stationed in Ta Loke Myo village, about eight miles north of Myingyan, began raiding villages along the Ayeyarwady River. Between Saturday and Monday, a junta column raided the villages of Sin Chaung, Nyaung To, Yan Ta Po, and Kaing before finally advancing into Gint Ge, located north of Ta Loke Myo, where they came under attack by resistance forces. The same junta column is now believed to be moving towards Si Mee Khon. “They raided the village of Sin Chaung. As soon as they entered the village, they opened fire with small arms and heavy artillery,” said Sai Ja Lu. “Troops of our battalion were able to engage in a brief exchange of fire with them. However, we were outnumbered and had to retreat.” He added that the Myingyan Township PDT was providing medicine and food to displaced villagers who had fled the junta raids. In addition to starting fires in Kaing on Sunday afternoon, the junta soldiers killed an elderly villager, according to one of her personal friends. "Daw Nyunt Shwe was shot dead when they discovered she was the mother of a PDF leader. That boy is devastated,” the friend said. “The junta soldiers shot her and left her body. So, we sought refuge in the Three Gems [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha] according to our traditions, and now the body is buried," he added. He said that almost the entire village of Kaing had burned down, and that locals had fled and sought shelter with their relatives elsewhere, fearing the junta troops would come back. In March and April, army troops infiltrating Myingyan Township burned down an unknown number of houses and killed at least 14 civilians, according to information collected by the Myingyan Township PDT. The military junta has generally suppressed any information about fighting in the area, only occasionally purporting to carry out operations for the people’s “defence.” The monitoring group Data for Myanmar has reported that more than 83,000 houses were burned down by junta forces and junta-trained militias in the three years since the military coup. In Myingyan District, where the military has concentrated its forces, attacks by local resistance forces on army and pro-junta militia positions have become a frequent occurrence. Protests against the military dictatorship were widespread and well-attended in the months following the 2021 coup in Myingyan Township, where the armed resistance to the military regime remains strong. There are eight NUG-affiliated PDF battalions in Myingyan District as well as dozens of local defence groups operating under their command. They have made efforts to escalate operations against the junta and its allied militias but are reportedly short of weapons and ammunition. While ethnic armed organisations continue to attack and capture military bases and towns on Myanmar’s borders, resistance groups based in central Myanmar have increasingly sought to compensate for their limited firepower by turning to the use of drones and improvised explosives in their attacks on junta targets.

Myanmar army troops torch hundreds of houses in Myingyan Township

A junta column raided villages on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River in Mandalay Region in response to resistance attacks on army bases and pro-junta militias

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