Junta soldiers rampaged through a village in Mandalay Region’s Singu Township last week, killing livestock, stealing from shops, and badly damaging people’s homes, locals have told Myanmar Now.
Last Monday’s raid on Hintharma came a day after junta-appointed administrator Khin Maung Than was shot dead by local People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters. Soldiers interrogated residents and forced some to guide them around the village as they damaged and looted houses.
Then on Sunday morning, the PDF killed an alleged military informant from Hintharma named Ko Maw, who was hiding in nearby Madaya Township.
Within hours of the second killing, about 40 soldiers returned to Hintharma to set up camp at a monastery, two local women told Myanmar Now.
“Every man in the village decided to go and hide in the woods once we heard that the military was coming again,” said one of the women. “They still haven’t come back.”
The second woman also said her relatives were in hiding. “They can’t come back as long as the soldiers are here. We don’t know how long they will stay here, so they can’t come back and risk getting arrested.”
Hintharma village has around 1,200 households. It is unclear how many of its residents have been displaced. The soldiers have ransacked the homes of people they suspect of involvement in the killings, robbed sundry stores, and killed and eaten people’s livestock, the women said.
During the initial raid on November 8, soldiers badly damaged four houses and stole rice, oil, fuel and money from shops, villagers said.
They also reportedly took nine engines from fishing boats docked on the Ayeyarwady river and destroyed other motorboats as they left the village. One villager said his motorboat was stolen.
At least 200 alleged military collaborators and informants have been assassinated nationwide since the February 1 coup, according to figures compiled by Myanmar Now at the end of October.
