BANGKOK — Myanmar junta troops have torched
hundreds of buildings during a three-day raid in the country’s north, local
media and residents said, as the military struggles to crush resistance to its
rule.
اضافة اعلان
The Sagaing region has seen fierce fighting and
bloody reprisals since the coup last year, with local
“People’s Defense Force” (PDF) members clashing regularly with junta troops.
Analysts say the informal militia has surprised
junta forces with its effectiveness, and the military has on numerous occasions
called in air strikes to support its troops on the ground. Troops torched
hundreds of buildings in the villages of Kinn, Upper Kinn, and Ke Taung over
three days last week, locals and media reports said.
On May 26, villagers in Kinn fled as soldiers
approached and began shooting into the air, said one resident who requested
anonymity. “The next morning, we saw
smoke rising from our village before they left. Over 200 houses were burned
down... my house was totally burned down, only the concrete foundation is
left.”
Drone footage purporting to show the aftermath
obtained by AFP showed columns of smoke rising into the sky from the villages,
set along a roughly eight-kilometer stretch of the Chindwin river.
A health clinic seen in the video matched the
geolocation of one in Ke Taung village.
AFP digital
verification reporters confirmed the footage had not appeared online before
last week but could not independently verify reports from the region.
Soldiers “raided and destroyed our houses”, said Ke
Taung villager Aye Tin, who requested to use a pseudonym. “And they also burned motor boats that we use
for transport and for carrying food for our village, including my boat. “My
life is ruined, as I have lost my home... and I nothing left to do for a
living.”
Satellite images from US space agency
NASA showed
fires in locations that matched Ke Taung and Kinn villages last week.
The junta has previously rebuffed claims its troops
have torched houses, accusing “terrorist” PDF fighters of starting the fires.
In a speech on Tuesday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said
“efforts were made to minimize the casualties as much as possible in performing
the counterattacks to terror acts.” “Now, the country is in tranquility,” he
said, according to state newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar.
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