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Military burns more than 1,000 homes in northwestern Myanmar in one week

May 6, 2022/in News

The military has been systematically destroying villages in Sagaing Region and Chin State to ‘discourage people from taking part in the revolution,’ locals say The military burned down more than 1,000 homes in villages in townships across Sagaing Region and Chin State during the first week of May alone, according to local sources. On the […]

Myanmar soldiers execute nine IDPs sheltering at Sagaing meditation centre

May 5, 2022/in News

Local residents said the victims—eight men and one woman—had all been lined up and shot in the head Residents of Oak Pho, a village in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township, say that regime forces executed nine people sheltering at a local Buddhist meditation centre on Monday. The victims, some of whom were elderly, had been displaced […]

Military burns more than 1,000 homes in northwestern Myanmar in one week

May 6, 2022/in News

Myanmar soldiers execute nine IDPs sheltering at Sagaing meditation centre

May 5, 2022/in News

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Military burns more than 1,000 homes in northwestern Myanmar in one week

May 6, 2022/in News

The military has been systematically destroying villages in Sagaing Region and Chin State to ‘discourage people from taking part in the revolution,’ locals say

The military burned down more than 1,000 homes in villages in townships across Sagaing Region and Chin State during the first week of May alone, according to local sources.

On the evening of May 1, Myanmar army soldiers torched nearly the entire 800-household village of Ah Shey See in Sagaing’s southern Kalay Township. In the days that followed, they carried out widespread acts of arson some 200 miles away in Ayadaw Township’s Malethar and Kyaung Sin Aing villages.

Around 90 junta troops had been stationed in Kyaung Sin Aing since carrying out earlier raids on communities in northwestern Taze Township, also in Sagaing. They then started burning homes in the occupied village on Thursday morning, a source close to the anti-junta Taze People’s Defence Force said.

The individual did not know how many of Kyaung Sin Aing’s 300 households had been lost, but noted that most of its 3,000 residents had fled.

The destruction of Malethar in southern Ayadaw on Monday affected at least 500 of the village’s 600 homes, according to a Wednesday statement released by the township’s anti-junta information team. It was the fourth time that the community had been targeted by the military since the coup in February last year.

“The wind was blowing north and they started torching from the southern part of the village. The fire spread so fast that they didn’t even need to put in much effort,” a local man told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.

Only around 30 homes, as well as a school, kindergarten and library were totally spared, he added.

The local man said that a elderly woman, who was also blind, was unable to flee with the other residents of Malethar and is believed to have been killed in the fire.

Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify whether there were casualties in the fires in Ayadaw and Kalay.

“They want to discourage the people from taking part in the revolution, but we are not scared,” a man who lost his home in the burning of Ashae See said. “The more they terrorise us, the more our hatred for them grows.”

Myanmar army troops have also perpetrated similar recent attacks on villages in neighbouring Chin State, which, like Sagaing, has been a stronghold of resistance forces.

Tlangzar_chin_state.jpeg

Houses from Tlangzar village in Falam, Chin State are seen burning on May 5 (Supplied)

Some 100 soldiers from a 30-vehicle military convoy burned more than 20 homes in two villages along the road connecting Hakha and Falam on Wednesday: Ramthlo and Tlangzar, a spokesperson for the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) said. Both villages are located in Falam Township.

The CNDF ambushed the military unit with guerrilla attacks involving explosives, reportedly killing some 18 junta troops. The Chin resistance group suffered one casualty as well, according to the spokesperson.

The military council has not released any information on casualties in Chin State and has previously denied responsibility for acts of arson, instead blaming fires on resistance forces.

Data For Myanmar, an organisation which has been collecting data on crimes committed by the junta, released a statement on May 1 saying that 11,417 houses had been destroyed in military raids since the coup. Of these, more than 7,500 homes were in Sagaing, 2,121 were in Magway, and 1,147 were in Chin State.

In an April 18 statement marking the first anniversary of the establishment of Myanmar’s National Unity Government, acting president Duwa Lashi La explained that his administration had established policies to compensate people for such losses caused by the junta.

“We want to promise to the people that we will rebuild their homes after the revolution has finished,” he said.

Myanmar Now News

Myanmar soldiers execute nine IDPs sheltering at Sagaing meditation centre

May 5, 2022/in News

Local residents said the victims—eight men and one woman—had all been lined up and shot in the head

Residents of Oak Pho, a village in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township, say that regime forces executed nine people sheltering at a local Buddhist meditation centre on Monday.

The victims, some of whom were elderly, had been displaced by recent fighting in the area. All nine had been shot in the head, local sources told Myanmar Now.

“Their brains were blown out. The bullets went straight into their heads,” said one man who did not want to be identified.

“The bodies were all in a row in one area of the meditation centre. They had been forced to sit in a line, and then they were executed. There weren’t any other injuries on them,” he added.

Local residents identified the victims as Khin Saung, 82; Win Maung, 65; Bo Tin, 67; Soe, 47; Kyaw Myo Tun, 46; Pho Sait, 47; Baydar, 45; Ni, 45; and Moe Moe, 30.

According to one source, Moe Moe’s five-year-old daughter survived the attack because some other internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the centre took her with them when they fled as the military arrived.

The bodies were discovered at around 8am on Tuesday, according to a man who was present at the time.

The soldiers who massacred the IDPs were reportedly from Light Infantry Division 77, a unit based in Bago that has been accused of committing serious human rights abuses in the past.

A member of a local defence force told Myanmar Now that the soldiers were part of a column of around 150 troops that had left Monywa on Sunday morning. After reaching Budalin, around half proceeded north of the town the next day. About 5km from the town, this group was attacked with explosives.

Enraged, the soldiers raided Oak Pho, where several civilians were killed on the spot. Some villagers who fled to the nearby meditation centre were followed, forcing the IDPs sheltering there to run for their lives.

“There were around 40 people staying at the meditation centre. The younger ones, including most of the women, were able to get away. But a few older ones who had trouble running didn’t make it,” said an Oak Pho villager.

Residents of the village say that the soldiers also ransacked at least a dozen houses and destroyed several vehicles.

After spending the night at the village monastery, the troops left the following morning for the police station in Seng Pyin, a village in Depayin Township, according to local defence forces.

Most of the inhabitants of Oak Pho, a village of around 450 households, are currently in hiding in neighbouring villages, local sources said.

Myanmar Now News

Spring Revolution

Civil Society Position Paper on ASEAN’s Goal of a Myanmar-Owned and -Led SolutionDecember 18, 2024 - 12:11 pm
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ND Burma

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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