(Bangkok) The Burmese army set fire to hundreds of buildings during a three-day raid in the Sagaing region in the north of the country, local residents and media have accused.
Posted at 12:22 a.m.
The Sagaing region has been the scene of heavy fighting and bloody reprisals since the military coup in Burma (Myanmar) in 2021. A local “People’s Defense Force” regularly clashes there with troops from the ruling junta.
According to analysts, this militia surprised the army with its effectiveness and the military repeatedly carried out air strikes in support of ground troops.
According to local residents and media, soldiers set fire to hundreds of houses in three days last week in the villages of Kinn and Ke Taung.
The raid began on May 26. Soldiers burst into villages firing in the air, scaring residents away, a resident said on condition of anonymity.
“The next morning we saw smoke rising from our village before they left,” he said. “More than 200 houses have completely burned down. Mine was totally destroyed, only the concrete foundations remain,” he added.
Images filmed from a drone, obtained by AFP, show columns of smoke rising from the villages in question, located on the banks of the Chindwin River.
AFP was able to verify that these images did indeed show these villages and that they had not been posted online before last week, but could not independently confirm the testimonies of the inhabitants.
Satellite images provided by NASA also showed fires last week in the villages of Ke Taung and Kinn.
The soldiers “destroyed our homes”, said a Ke Taung resident who asked to use the pseudonym Aye Tin. “And they also burned motorboats that we used for transport and to bring food to our village,” he said.
“My life is in ruins, I lost my house and I have nothing left to live on,” he complained.
The Burmese junta has repeatedly denied that the army burned down houses, attributing these abuses to “terrorists”.