Myanmar military destroys hundreds of houses in drone attacks on Sagaing villages

Regime forces used drones to conduct a series of raids in central Sagaing Region late last week, leaving a trail of destruction and detaining dozens of civilians, according to local sources. The attacks began on October 30, when a column of around 150 soldiers based in the town of Kanbalu launched assaults on a cluster of villages along the Mu River in Kanbalu, Ye-U, and Khin-U townships. The first to be targeted was Kar Boe, a village about 25 miles south of Kanbalu. The column then attacked the nearby villages of Kyi Su and Kyauk Taing with drones, destroying a total of around 400 houses and two monasteries, sources said. The two monasteries, located in the northern and southern parts of Kyi Su, are in complete ruins, according to the information officer of a local resistance group. “The northern monastery in Kyi Su was a meditation centre in better times, so it had many buildings. Only the dining hall remains. All the other buildings are gone,” he said, adding that there was also nothing left of the southern monastery. The junta soldiers, who were also accompanied by members of the pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia, then entered Aing Paung Chaung, a village east of Kar Boe, where they found dozens of civilians sheltering at a monastery. “When they found out there were displaced people in the monastery, they made everyone squat down and selected the ones they wanted to take. They arrested them, claiming they had ties to the resistance,” said a member of a local anti-junta group. In total, 34 men and three women were detained and taken to the Tank Battalion 6006 base in Kanbalu, he added. Later the same day, the column also launched drone attacks on the village of Pin Sein Khin in Ye-U Township and Mone Hla in Khin-U Township, sources in the area told Myanmar Now. In Mone Hla—the birthplace of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, the Catholic Archbishop of Yangon—the junta column used drones to drop bombs on St. Michael's Church, damaging the bell tower and the main worship hall's ceiling, the sources said. Resistance sources say that the regime is increasingly relying on drones to carry out attacks, resulting in civilian casualties as well as extensive damage to property. “Their drone unit drives around, and instead of advancing much on the ground, they’re conducting operations using drones,” said a member of a local resistance force in Kanbalu Township. The junta primarily uses hexacopter drones that can carry and launch up to two 60mm bombs, according to resistance forces.On October 12, a drone attack on the village of Inn Lel Gyi in Kanbalu Township left a woman and her two daughters dead, and nine others injured.

Myanmar military destroys hundreds of houses in drone attacks on Sagaing villages

Dozens of locals sheltering at a monastery in southern Kanbalu Township were also detained during junta raids late last week

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