Myanmar junta forces torch scores of houses in raids southwest of Mandalay

Raids by the Myanmar military on villages in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U and Tada-U townships have left around 150 burned, according to locals and resistance sources. More than 70 houses were torched during a raid last week in Sa Par Twin village, around 13 miles south of the Tada-U airport, resistance fighters based in the township said. A statement issued by the People’s Defence Forces (PDF)—commanded by the defence ministry of the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG)—said a man in his 50s was fatally shot and an elderly monk burned to death in the Sa Par Twin raids, which occurred after a skirmish between resistance and junta forces. Photographs posted on social media showed the charred remains of a car and houses after the arson attacks. Sa Par Twin village, Tada-U Township following raids by junta soldiers (Photo: People’s Defence Forces – Tada-U Township) In a series of raids conducted over three days in Nyaung-U Township, junta troops also set fires in villages about ten miles south of Bagan, an archaeological site and historic city on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River, which is home to hundreds of temples and pagodas dating back more than seven centuries. “Junta troops carried out arson attacks in four of the seven villages they raided,” a resistance fighter from Nyaung-U Township said. “More than 70 houses were damaged and there was a brief clash during the raids.” Junta troops burned down at least 40 houses in Kya Oh village, 30 in Kya Oh Kyun village, and five in Mee Laung Hpyar village during the three-day raid in the first weeks of January, local sources said. “They’ve destroyed our houses and looted our belongings every time they entered our village,” a man from Kya Oh said. The Myanmar military regime has repeatedly targeted villages south of the Bagan heritage site since the beginning of last year, with one raid in July destroying at least 100 houses. Before the raids, resistance forces had carried out assaults on junta troops in Nyaung-U Township guarding polling stations for the first phase of an ongoing, junta-controlled election. A People’s Defense Team under the command of the NUG is active in Nyaung-U Township, along with other local and independent resistance groups. The military regime maintains tight control over Nyaung-U Township’s urban areas and frequently deploys troops to conduct raids in resistance-held territories, displacing thousands of civilians.

Myanmar junta forces torch scores of houses in raids southwest of Mandalay

Some of the raided villages, located south of the centuries-old temples and pagodas of Bagan, were also targeted by junta arson attacks last year

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