The military arrested and questioned more than 140 civilians and torched around 100 houses in three villages in Myaing township, Magway Region on Aug. 9, according to local defense forces and residents.
Military troops, who were injured in previous Twinma village clashes, raided villages close to Twinma and arrested and questioned 143 civilians. They still have not been released yet, Bo Letyar, the battalion commander of Myaing PDF Brigade 1, told DVB.
“More than 100 houses were burning because the military and Pyusawhti militiamen set fire to them and arrested civilians from Orin, Tharsi, and Hnin Si Kan villages. We don’t know the exact details as we fled to safety. They set fire to our village in the evening. Now, over 100 houses from three villages were on fire,” a resident of Hnin Si Kan village said.
Burma Army personnel indiscriminately shelled the village. Villagers heard the sound of fighting in Twinma village and were forced to flee to safety, including to other villages and the forest, according to a local.
“We issued a warning to the public on Aug. 6 not to use Myaing-Pakkoku road due to the military conducting a massive offensive on Myaing township but people didn’t listen, so we made another announcement on Aug. 9,” Bo Letyar said.
According to sources, a massive contingent of military troops split into five columns and conducted an offensive, setting fire to villages in Myaing township as an increasing amount of the township falls under the control of PDFs.
Around 3,055 houses were destroyed in the military’s arson attacks in Magway from Feb. 1, 2011 to May 31, 2022 and 18,886 houses have been torched nationwide, Data for Myanmar announced on June 7.
