Resistance forces rescue dozens of civilians under junta-occupied village in Sagaing

A local People’s Defence Force (PDF) chapter and its allies managed on Monday to rescue some 40 villagers from Zee Phyu Kone in Sagaing’s Pale Township, which remains under occupation by the Myanmar army and the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee network. 

The leader of the Pale PDF—who calls himself Naga—said that the clash with the junta’s forces in the village started at around 3pm and did not end until midnight. 

Resistance fighters were able to get into the village and create an escape route for some residents but not fully drive out the occupying soldiers, he explained.

“We entered the village but we couldn’t get to the main area where they were based as they had snipers around it,” Naga said. “That area was the only place we failed to seize.”

The guerrilla forces were limited by their arms and equipment, he added. 

“We don’t have enough communication devices as we’ve had to save the money for weapons. We don’t have long-range weapons that could match the enemy’s, either. The handmade rifles that we use can be very faulty at times,” Naga told Myanmar Now. 

He did not know how many casualties the resistance forces had inflicted on the military’s side. 

Multiple defence forces under the Monywa PDF fought alongside the Pale PDF in the attack and rescue attempt, including the Aung San squadron, Thanmani Force and Pone Taung Tiger Force. 

The 40 civilians who managed to escape the junta occupation of Zee Phyu Kone had been taken to the anti-junta Pale Township People’s Administration Team for protection, according to the Pale PDF. 

According to villagers, the occupying junta forces had ordered them to join the Pyu Saw Htee group, and threatened them with death if they refused. 

“They were killing the villagers who refused to take the guns they were handing them. Even when the villagers agreed to take up the guns but did not dare to shoot, they showed them how to kill,” Naga said, citing villagers who had escaped. 

He said that he did not know how many of the villagers had been killed by the soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee during the occupation, and Myanmar Now was unable to verify his claim. 

By Tuesday morning, even though the fighting had stopped, most residents of Zee Phyu Kone had fled their homes, a man from the area said.  

“The battle yesterday was very bad,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. “There are a lot of soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee left inside the village. We don’t know the exact numbers as we can’t go inside, but I saw villagers leaving today.”

According to the Pale PDF, Myanmar army soldiers and plainclothes Pyu Saw Htee members stationed in Zee Phyu Kone and In Ma Htee villages had been raiding and torching homes in other neighbouring communities, and had destroyed more than 2,000 houses in the township. 

On February 14, an alliance of the Pale PDF and a resistance force calling itself the Myanmar Royal Dragon Army attacked junta forces in Zee Phyu Kone, claiming to have killed 40 Pyu Saw Htee members. 

Myanmar Now is unable to independently verify the number of deaths in the area—of civilians, resistance group members, or the junta’s forces. 

Pale PDF spokesperson Naga said that his group had to eventually retreat because of the military’s repeated re-supplying of weapons and reinforcement troops sent by helicopter. 

The military proceeded to torch the 400-household Chaung-U village north of Zee Phyu Kone, destroying most of the homes in the community, according to a local source. 

In early February, a junta column made up of hundreds of soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members also raided three villages along the Pale-Gangaw road—Kaing Twin, Hlaw Kar and Min Taing Pin—looting cash and valuables and torching more than 800 homes. 

In Min Taing Pin, the troops burned the bodies of four slain civilians who they had abducted from another village, and also raped five local women, according to statements given by locals to Myanmar Now. 

The junta’s information officer has not answered Myanmar Now’s calls for comment on the allegations.