Residents flee as military pushes closer to heritage site in central Myanmar

Raids by Myanmar junta troops have displaced thousands from the area around Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U Township, according to local sources. A force of around 100 soldiers from the military’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 415 base in Nyaung-U have come into the area via the Nyaung-U-Chauk road since May 15, raiding the village of Yar Taw Gyi around ten miles southeast of Bagan. According to a resident of Kyauk Pyin Kan village—around two miles west of Yar Taw Gyi, at least 5,000 people from five villages on that road have fled their homes. “As the troops approached from the north, we fled to the southern part of the village,” the Kyauk Pyin Kan resident said. “We’re now taking shelter under the trees in the nearby forest.” “During the last attack, our village was torched and bombs were dropped as civilians tried to escape,” he added. Eleven houses in Kyauk Pyin Kan village—including his own—were burned to the ground in March when a junta column advanced into the Bagan–Nyaung-U area, the man said, and the troops also took people’s valuables, including cattle. “Since our house was made of brick, they doused the windows and beds with gasoline to ignite it,” he said. “They took everything valuable—only an empty house was left behind.” The civilians displaced by the fighting were residents of Yar Taw Gyi and at least eight other villages around 15 miles or less south of Bagan on the Nyaung-U-Chauk road. According to the Kyauk Pyin Kan resident, the clashes taking place in the area since the beginning of the year have places historic pagodas and temple sites at increased risk of damage. “Gangaw village sits right beside the pagodas,” he said. “They’ve used it to station their troops, shoot at their surroundings, and even fire artillery. That’s their usual practice.” After a clash in Yar Taw Gyi village on May 20, junta forces carried out drone strikes on the village of Gyoe Kan around two miles to the southwest before moving in and capturing five young men, according to a representative of the resistance group People’s Democratic Army (PDA). “There were no casualties on our side,” said Oak Soe, the PDA representative in Nyaung-U. “One of their drones was shot down, and they retreated. They were targeting their drone strikes at the village, especially the monastery. Our scouts were close by, so they fired at both the drones and the ground troops.” Having withdrawn from Gyoe Kan village on May 22, junta forces established a defensive position in Gant Gar village on the Nyaung-U–Chauk Road, making it difficult for residents from surrounding villages to return to their homes, local sources said. “They captured five young men from Gyoe Kan and looted every house in the village,” the resident said. “They set fire to some belongings and took whatever they could carry.” Since the beginning of this year, junta forces in the area have torched at least 30 homes in Kyauk Pyin Kan, Kya Oh, and Myay Thant Taung villages, residents reported. Bagan—a heritage site known for pagodas and temples preserved for more than seven centuries—is on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River opposite the town of Myit Chay in Magway Region’s Pakokku Township, a known stronghold of resistance.

Residents flee as military pushes closer to heritage site in central Myanmar

Civilians said their villages were bombed and their homes burned and looted on a road south of the centuries-old city of Bagan

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