Newly arrived junta troops looting villages in Magway Region

The military displaced thousands from their homes this week in Myaing and Yesagyo townships, carrying scores of soldiers to a village outpost which they used as a launching point to raid nearby villages for supplies, according to locals and resistance sources. Residents said five villages in those townships have been all but deserted since the soldiers started coming from their base in Lin Ka Taw village, a junta stronghold in Myaing Township some 15 miles northwest of Yesagyo, according to residents. “They started raiding villages near their outpost after roughly 80 reinforcement troops arrived at Lin Ka Taw village,” a resistance fighter from Yesagyo Township said. “They looted over 80 rice sacks from Ni Pa Say Taw village last week and they torched at least two houses in Oo Yin village on Monday,” he added. At least four vehicles carrying the 80 troops as well as shipments of supplies bound for Lin Ka Taw departed from the Light Infantry Battalion 258 base in Yesagyo Township on September 9, according to local resistance fighters. The villages looted by the junta troops are both within two miles of their Lin Ka Taw base. Resistance fighters briefly captured and held the base but were later forced to withdraw and deploy elsewhere, allowing the junta forces to retake it. At least five people in the area, including two women from Ni Pa Say Taw village were detained by junta troops but later released, according to locals. “They also took tractors and motorised three-wheelers from our village to carry the rice sacks they stole. Some villagers had to risk their lives going to get those vehicles back with the help of a monk,” a displaced man from Yesagyo Township said. Resistance forces say that looting nearby villages has been the junta soldiers’ primary means of supplying their outpost in Lin Ka Taw. “They used to come through every five to six months to deliver supplies to their outpost. But this time they came again after just one month,” a man from Myaing Township said. “They seem to be raiding nearby villages for supplies again, but there have been no clashes with resistance forces yet.” As of Tuesday, the troops had advanced farther from their base. They were seen near the villages of Taw and Kyi Kan, nearly three miles southwest of Lin Ka Taw, according to locals. A Ni Pa Say Taw resident told Myanmar Now that his family and relatives were still displaced from their homes, as they feared the threat from the junta troops. “I’ve heard explosions around 10 times today. We’ve had to move to three different spots in the rain and wind, even at night,” a man from Ni Pa Say Taw said. “And our drinking water is running out.” Locals said that junta troops overran a resistance guard post near Ni Pa Say Taw village during the raid. At least 3,000 people from Ni Pa Say Taw, Taung U, Kyet Su Kyin, and surrounding villages near the township line between Myaing and Yesagyo were also forced to flee their homes last month.

Newly arrived junta troops looting villages in Magway Region

Thousands of civilians fled their homes ahead of an advance by junta vehicles and soldiers, who have reportedly been supplying their base with food taken during village raids

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