Myanmar military destroys over 100 houses, kills four civilians in Sagaing Region village

Junta ground forces torched more than a hundred houses and killed four civilians including a man with a mental illness in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday, according to local sources. A column of around 100 soldiers entered U Kin Kyi village some 30 miles northeast of Kanbalu near 7am on Sunday and detained five male civilians between 20 and 50 years old, four of whom they killed, according to a villager. The soldiers tortured three of the men they had captured before killing them, he said, adding that residents discovered their bodies at the southwestern end of the village that evening. "They didn't kill them right away after taking them captive,” said the villager, who helped to recover the victims’ remains. “After burning some houses, they stuck them in the ribs with knives, then shot them with guns, and slit their throats only after they were dead. All three were killed in the same way.” “The bodies were on the ground, covered by dust,” the man continued. “Their heads were still attached to their bodies when they were found, but they had been cut.” The burned body of another man in his 50s, who was known to have a mental disorder, was also found in the southwestern part of the village, the same local man said. The army column was made up mostly of troops from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 361 base in Kanbalu. Since leaving the LIB 361 base on August 20, the junta has moved through the town of Kyunhla and attacked various villages to the north. The soldiers raided U Kin Kyi, taking rice, oil, and other essential supplies for their base near Chat Thin before setting fire to and destroying at least 170 houses. U Kin Kyi is located seven miles northeast of Chat Gyi village, the location of a junta base, and has been targeted for raids and arson attacks several times before. However, the destruction that occurred on Sunday was the worst locals had seen to date, they said. The army column was seemingly acting in retaliation, according to U Kin Kyi villagers, having advanced from Chat Thin village some two miles to the west after two landmines detonated there, likely injuring some of the soldiers. The day before the column entered U Kin Kyi, local resistance forces had also carried out a close-range attack on the column between Chat Gyi and Chat Thin villages, wounding several soldiers, according to the village resident, who cited resistance fighters with whom he is in contact. As the junta column was leaving U Kin Kyi village at around 2pm on Sunday, resistance forces fired on them using heavy artillery, he said. U Kin Kyi locals carried out an area clearing that evening to ensure the column had not left behind ambushers or dangerous explosives in the village, then cremated their victims’ bodies. The villager who had helped retrieve the bodies said that the soldiers had taken away the fifth captive, a man in his 40s, and that his status and whereabouts were unknown. Resistance forces have been urging civilian residents of Kanbalu Township to evacuate their villages since the junta column passed through Kyunhla last week, advancing in their direction. However, villagers are reluctant to leave their homes during rice planting season, during which daily work in the fields is a necessity. Recruits to the junta-armed Pyu Saw Htee militias are seen during their training with their leader, ultranationalist Buddhist monk Warthawa, in Kanbalu Township in late July Myanmar’s armed resistance maintains a strong presence in Kanbalu Township, but more than 40 villages in the township are under the control of junta-trained militias—known as the Pyu Saw Htee—organised and led by the ultranationalist, pro-military Buddhist monk Warthawa. The Myanmar army and Pyu Saw Htee have intensified operations in Kanbalu Township and neighbouring areas of Sagaing Region on the west side of the Ayeyarwady River while resistance forces have carried out a broad offensive targeting the military’s positions across the river in Mandalay Region. Mandalay Region-based resistance forces have captured the towns of Singu, Tagaung, and Thabeikkyin on the Ayeyarwady’s east bank since late June. Three locals were also killed by artillery and drone strikes, and nearly 200 houses were burned, in late July in southern Kanbalu Township as a column that included LIB 361 troops conducted offensive manoeuvres in the area.

Myanmar military destroys over 100 houses, kills four civilians in Sagaing Region village

A man known to be mentally ill was among four local people killed and tortured by army troops on a combat mission in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, during which they also carried out a massive arson attack

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