According to the KNU, more than 300,000 civilians have been displaced by conflict within its territory

Shelling by Myanmar’s military killed two people and injured three others—including two children—in a village in Bago Region’s Shwegyin Township on Tuesday, according to resistance sources.

The incident occurred early in the morning, soon after Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) forces attacked a junta army base on the Shwegyin-Kyaukkyi road, a member of the Yoma People’s Defence Force (PDF) told Myanmar Now.

After abandoning the base, the regime forces opened fire with heavy artillery, killing a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s in the village of Than Seik, the Yoma PDF member said.

A three-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, and another person who had not yet been identified at the time of reporting were injured, he added.

“I heard that one junta soldier was injured in the initial attack, but we haven’t confirmed that yet. As far as I know, there were no KNLA casualties,” he said, adding that the entire population of the village has since fled the area.

Than Seik is located about 20km north of the town of Shwegyin. The area is part of eastern Bago’s Nyaunglebin District, which is KNLA Brigade 3 territory.

According to a person who is assisting displaced civilians, the two injured children were transferred to Yangon General Hospital on Tuesday evening. The boy was said to be in critical condition.

Last Wednesday, the Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA, released a statement saying that there had been a total of 25 clashes in Nyaunglebin in the first two weeks of August. At least 57 junta soldiers were killed in the fighting, the group said.

In addition to using heavy artillery, the military has also carried out airstrikes in the area. Locals have also accused regime troops of abducting villagers and stealing livestock.

According to the KNU, nearly 62,000 civilians have been displaced by recent fighting in Nyaunglebin. The total for all areas under KNU control, including in Mon and Karen (Kayin) states, is more than 300,000, it said.

Earlier this month, the KNU reported that there were more than 150,000 displaced civilians in its territory in Bago Region and Mon State alone.

In the absence of support from international relief agencies, which have not been allowed to operate in much of Myanmar, many local groups have turned to online donations to meet the growing needs of conflict-affected civilians in the country.

Myanmar Now News

The latest clash was sparked by a military attempt to break through an AA position along a supply route.

More than 5,000 civilians fled from more than 10 villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after fighting erupted Tuesday night between junta forces and the rebel Arakan Army (AA), residents told RFA.

The people, from Rathedaung township in the northwestern part of the state, were forced to leave their homes when a junta column attempted to break through an AA position along a supply route that goes through Ku Lar Chaung village, a resident of the area told RFA’s Burmese Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“There’s a place called Yay Soe Chaung Byuhar in the north of Rathedaung.  The AA intercepted the military that came along this supply route yesterday,” said the source.

“We heard four junta soldiers were killed. And this morning, they came to get the bodies. We heard a lot of gunfire and explosions of heavy weapons this morning,” the source said.

RFA has not yet been able to independently confirm any casualties.

The Myanmar army has occupied most of the area since 2019, after a series of battles with the AA. More junta troops are now stationed in Ma Nyin Taung village near the battle site, sources said.

Thein Nu from Pyain Taw village told RFA that she and her family fled across the river about an hour after the fighting started at 7 p.m. She said the clashes lasted until around midnight. 

“We escaped the fighting by crossing the river in a boat,” Thein Nu said. “We couldn’t worry about other families because we were so afraid. We just fled taking our children and the elderly. 

“The river was so wide, but we just crossed it because we were scared. We were afraid that we’d be shot at from the air like in the past. We were also afraid that they might fire at us from a ship. A plane was circling in the air and we were frightened,” she said.

People in the area were also forced to flee fighting in 2019. They remained in refugee camps near Rathedaung for more than two years.

A fierce battle also broke out between the junta army and the AA in Rathedaung township on Aug. 13, and the Rathedaung-Maungdaw-Buthidaung road was closed indefinitely by the military.

Local villagers said the commander of the military’s light infantry regiments 536, 537 and 538, based in Rathedaung, demanded that the AA leave its camp in Pyar Chaung Gyi village on Aug. 25.

Residents also told RFA that the junta bombed suspected AA camp sites in the northern part of Maungdaw township, along the Let Pan and Wai Lar mountains on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

They said the AA has also launched attacks on the junta military camp on Kha Moung Seik Byuhar hill since Aug. 25, and the junta side has suffered many casualties.

Neither side has released any information about the fighting.

AA spokesman Khine Thukha told RFA on Monday that the AA was defending civilians in the area. 

“Whether the fighting will be more intense or not depends on the activities of the Myanmar army,” he said.

“If they launch more attacks, we will retaliate. The Burmese army has been targeting mainly the Rakhine people in Rakhine state and imposing various restrictions on the people,” Khine Thukha said.

The Myanmar military has opened up to 15 checkpoints along the Ann-Sittwe road and has strictly limited travel and the flow of goods, the AA said. 

RFA tried to contact Hla Thein, attorney general of Rakhine and the junta’s spokesman in the region, about the situation, but he did not respond.

Pe Than, a former representative of the People’s Assembly in Rakhine, said the fighting might be more intense than it was two years ago.

“In the past, there were clashes, but it was not about capturing camps. Now, the AA side is gradually taking over the border guard camps and the Burmese military has been gradually retreating,” Pe Than said. 

“The junta troops only have air support. They get their food rations only from the air. They can only fire their heavy weapons from afar. That’s all they can do. The ground troops are all surrounded. So this is no longer an ordinary battle. It’s meant to take over territory. It all started from the north,” he said.

The junta’s army and AA troops were engaged in the townships of Maungdaw and Mrauk U as well as in Paletwa township in Chin state and the fighting has gradually expanded, according to Pe Than. He said at least 10 junta camps, including border guard stations, have withdrawn.

After a truce that lasted a year and a half, fighting between the two sides erupted again in July. Residents said more than 10,000 people have fled their homes in Rathedaung township and more than 700 in Mrauk U township as a result.

In a statement Wednesday, the AA claimed that it had captured a military camp near milestone No. 40 near the Bangladesh border area despite heavy resistance.

It said fighting has been going on in that area since the beginning of August and that the military has fired about 300 to 400 rounds of heavy weapons into the area between milestones No. 34 and No. 39. 

The statement also said that the junta has recently used helicopters and jet fighters to bomb the area. 

The camp fell this morning at 9:12 a.m., the statement said, and 19 junta soldiers, including Police Capt. Soe Soe Paing, were captured or killed. The AA was also able to seize weapons and ammunition.

The AA acknowledged in the statement that it suffered some casualties but didn’t say how many. The AA said it discovered fresh graves of junta soldiers who had been killed in earlier clashes.

The statement also said that there was a skirmish Tuesday night on the road about 700 meters (half a mile) west of Ma Nyin Taung village in Rathedaung township and another clash Wednesday afternoon at a spot about 500 meters west of Myeik Wa village in Paletwa township of Chin state. Both sides suffered casualties, according to the statement. 

RFA News

By THE IRRAWADDY 29 August 2022 

Myanmar junta forces have burned down 28,434 houses in 645 locations since last year’s coup, with Sagaing Region suffering the heaviest damage, according to the independent research group Data For Myanmar. 

Military regime troops have committed arson attacks in 11 states and regions, with Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State bearing the brunt of the junta’s campaign against civilians. 

From February 1, 2021 to August 25, 2022, some 20,153 houses in Sagaing Region were torched by junta forces. Magwe Region saw 5,418 properties burned down, while 1,474 houses in Chin State were destroyed. Another 1,400-odd homes were torched elsewhere in the country.

Despite the United Nation’s (UN) Special Envoy Noeleen Heyzer calling on coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on August 17 to cease air and artillery strikes on civilian targets and the torching of homes, regime soldiers have conducted arson attacks and airstrikes on more than 20 villages in Sagaing and Magwe in the last nine days. 

Over a dozen civilians have been killed, while an estimated 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to local residents and People’s Defense Forces. 

Data For Myanmar said that regime forces escalated their arson attacks in Sagaing in April, May and June of this year, torching over 12,000 houses. 27 out of 34 townships in Sagaing reported junta arson attacks.

Magwe Region also saw an escalation in regime arson attacks in August losing 1,300 houses, added Data For Myanmar. 

The research group said that it used reports from the media, rights groups and refugee organizations to calculate the number of homes destroyed. However, the actual number of houses burned down may be higher than the reported figures, as many regime arson attacks have yet to be verified. 

Junta forces have increased their arson attacks and airstrikes against civilian targets since September last year, when the civilian National Unity Government declared war against the regime. 

In mid-August, the UN Special Envoy also called on the junta leader to end all forms of violence, to show full respect for human rights and the rule of law, and to allow full and safe humanitarian access to those in need. 

But the Myanmar military has continued to commit atrocities including burning people alive, the arbitrary torture and killings of civilians, extrajudicial killings of resistance detainees, using civilian detainees as human shields, artillery and airstrikes on residential areas, looting and burning houses and acts of sexual violence. 

Some 2,249 people have been killed by the regime up to August 26, while 15,239 people including elected government leaders have been arrested or detained, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that monitors arrests and deaths by junta forces. 

Topics: Chin State, Coup, Data for Myanmar, junta, Magwe, military regime, Myanmar Military, Sagaing, UN, United Nations