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More Magway villagers fall victim to marauding regime forces

January 3, 2022/in News

At least two civilians were killed in separate incidents last week as the junta continues its efforts to crush opponents to its rule Regime forces and members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee group murdered at least two villagers in Magway Region last week, according to local sources. On Thursday, the charred remains of a […]

Junta forces and military-backed armed group terrorise Sagaing residents

January 3, 2022/in News

Displaced locals from a Taze Township village say they heard the military fire both shells and guns before they saw smoke rising from the community Displaced locals from Sagaing Region’s Taze Township said they saw smoke rising from their village on Sunday morning after a clash between local resistance forces and junta troops broke out […]

More Magway villagers fall victim to marauding regime forces

January 3, 2022/in News

Junta forces and military-backed armed group terrorise Sagaing residents

January 3, 2022/in News

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More Magway villagers fall victim to marauding regime forces

January 3, 2022/in News

At least two civilians were killed in separate incidents last week as the junta continues its efforts to crush opponents to its rule

Regime forces and members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee group murdered at least two villagers in Magway Region last week, according to local sources.

On Thursday, the charred remains of a man were found inside a house that had been set on fire in Hnan Khar, a village in Gangaw Township that has been largely deserted since it came under an aerial attack on December 17.

The body was believed to belong to 45-year-old Htwar Maung, one of three people abducted by regime forces in the area last week, local sources said.

Htwar Maung and another man, 60-year-old Pei Tone, were reportedly taken into custody together when military troops returned to Hnan Khar on Wednesday.

According to a village leader, Pei Tone was found alive near the house containing the burnt body.

“He was close to death when we found him. We couldn’t ask him anything, because he couldn’t speak,” said the village leader, adding that Pei Tone, who was said to be mentally disabled, had bruises covering his head and back.

The third person was identified as 50-year-old Than Ngwe, who was seen being taken away with his hands tied behind his back as the troops left the village later the same day.

Like Pei Tone, Than Ngwe was described by local residents as being mentally challenged. It is believed that he was taken as a human shield. Residents of Hnan Khar discovered nine bodies in the village after it had been occupied by regime forces in the wake of last month’s air raids.

Pei Tone, a resident of Hnan Khar who was abducted by army troops on December 29, is seen as he was found by villagers a day later (Supplied)

Lines show where the charred remains of a man, believed to be Hnan Khar resident Htwar Maung, were found in the village on December 30 (Supplied)

Residents of Hnan Khar discovered nine bodies in the village after it had been occupied by regime forces in the wake of last month’s air raids.

Meanwhile, there were also reports that a 58-year-old man had been shot and killed in Zee Taw, a village located some 215km southeast of Hnan Khar in Pauk Township, during a raid by police and local Pyu Saw Htee members on Friday.

The victim, Myint Shwe, was reportedly killed at around 11am as he was returning home after working in his fields.

Pauk.jpeg

Residents of Zee Taw examine the body of Myint Swe, a 58-year-old farmer who was shot dead in the village on December 31 (Supplied)

According to the leader of a guerrilla force active in Pauk Township, Myint Swe was murdered as he attempted to flee a group of 16 men on motorcycles who had entered the village minutes earlier.

“They were just going around Zee Taw shooting randomly when they ran into him. They shot him six times,” said the local guerrilla leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A woman who identified herself as a relative of the victim confirmed this account.

“I was feeding my children when they arrived. The Pyu Saw Htee were wearing hats to hide their identities and they drove away right after shooting him,” she said.

“They just ran into him by chance and shot him dead.”

Pyae Sone, a police defector who leads the Magway-based Myay Latt Guerrilla Force, was in the area at the time of the incident and said he later saw the victim’s body.

“He was such a simple person. He didn’t even know how to use a mobile phone, let alone take part in the revolution. He ran away in fear when he ran into them. They shot him until he was dead,” he said.

The Pyu Saw Htee group has been active in the area for months, terrorizing local villagers in an effort to suppress support for armed groups opposed to the junta that seized power last February.

In October, around 30 members of the group surrendered with their weapons to anti-regime forces in Magway after the military failed to protect them from attack.

Myanmar Now News

Junta forces and military-backed armed group terrorise Sagaing residents

January 3, 2022/in News

Displaced locals from a Taze Township village say they heard the military fire both shells and guns before they saw smoke rising from the community

Displaced locals from Sagaing Region’s Taze Township said they saw smoke rising from their village on Sunday morning after a clash between local resistance forces and junta troops broke out there one day earlier.

The military occupied the village—Kar Paung Kya—after opening fire with heavy weapons on members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Taze.

According to a member of the Taze PDF, they clashed with more than 100 junta soldiers for 45 minutes after the resistance group launched an attack near Kar Paung Kya using explosives. The Taze PDF was forced to retreat after the military retaliated, he added, with the coup regime’s soldiers remaining in Kar Paung Kya.

“Some said they could see smoke coming out from the edge of the village. We don’t know anything for sure yet,” said a Kar Paung Kya local who would like to remain anonymous.

Locals said they heard the military firing both shells and guns near the village early Sunday morning before they saw the smoke.

“The military is still inside the village. They fired an artillery shell once in the morning and fired some 20 rounds of light weapons,” another Kar Paung Kya resident said.

Further details about the military’s activities in Kar Paung Kya were not known at the time of reporting.
Karpaungkya.jpeg

Karpaungkya village is seen after a military raid on August 31, 2021 (CJ)

According to the Taze PDF member, a 22-year-old resistance fighter known as Myo Chit San was killed by the junta’s artillery fire on Saturday.

Kar Paung Kya’s 3,000 residents have been displaced for months after the military carried out more than 10 raids on the 700-household village since late August.

The Myanmar army torched several homes in Kar Paung Kya in October after occupying the community for a week.

One day before the clash near Kar Paung Kya, buildings in the town of Kyunhla—some 60km from Taze—were ransacked and torched by members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee network, two sources told Myanmar Now.

Among the sites targeted were homes in Pyinma Myaing ward, several tea shops, and a motorcycle in Sipin Zay Kone ward, as well as a goldsmith which was looted there, locals said.

One of the locals who spoke to Myanmar Now noted that the Pyu Saw Htee members appeared to be targeting the shops and houses owned by members or supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, whose elected administration was ousted in Myanmar’s February 1 coup.

“They torched the buildings because they believed they belonged to pro-NLD people,” the local man said. “The Pyu Saw Htee group has been terrorising the town for a long time. We don’t have any PDF groups present in the town of Kyunhla.”

He added that residents of the neighbourhood had to put out the blaze set by the Pyu Saw Htee as the fire department did not respond to the incident.

Members of the group were also seen firing shots in the town and threatening locals two days before the raid, with some residents speculating that the Pyu Saw Htee were testing out their weapons and shooting in the air, according to another local.

The individual added that the members of the group had also fired shots into the air until 1am after torching the buildings in Pyinma Myaing ward.

“They were doing so in order to make the neighbourhood residents believe that they had to open fire because there was a clash [between the resistance and the junta forces],” he said, noting that no such clash had occurred.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the Kyunhla central police station to comment on the locals’ accounts of the events, but the officer on duty refused to answer the calls.

Junta information officer Gen Zaw Min Tun said during a press conference on September 15 that the military had not formed the Pyu Saw Htee group nor had they provided them with weapons or training.

At least two villagers in Kyunhla Township were killed during the airstrikes by the Myanmar military in late-October.

Locals from several villages in the region had to flee on November 9 when the military fired shells to the west of the Thaphan Sate dam during a battle with the PDF just outside the township.

The Kyunhla Township PDF has stated that the military has carried out frequent raids on villages in the area and robbed civilians of their valuables and food supplies.

Sagaing Region quickly became a resistance stronghold against the junta following the February coup.

Myanmar Now remains unable to contact the military for comment on the ongoing offensive in northwestern Myanmar, nor has the junta addressed in state-controlled newspapers the crimes of which it is accused in the region.

Myanmar Now News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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