(Bangkok) The military in power in Burma on Saturday accused anti-junta fighters of having started a fire which ravaged a city in the west of the country where there was an office of the NGO Save the Children.
Local media and witnesses reported on Friday that the junta’s armed forces shelled the town of Thantlang in western Chin State after a confrontation with local self-defense forces.
According to residents, a fire then ravaged the city of 7,500 people, destroying dozens of homes and other buildings, including a Save the Children office, which the London-based NGO confirmed in a statement.
The junta on Saturday reported two churches and 70 homes destroyed by fire in Thantlang, accusing the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) of being behind the blaze.
The PDF, citizen militias formed by opponents of the army, lead a guerrilla war mainly in the countryside.
PHOTO STRINGER, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Smoke rises from the village of Thantlang.
“These are the PDFs that burned [la ville], not our Tatmadaw [nom des forces armées birmanes] Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told local media, refuting accusations to this effect.
“Our security forces and officials tried to stop the fire, but they failed because these PDFs were attacking them,” he added, adding that a Burmese soldier had been killed.
AFP has not been able to verify this information in this remote region.
The United States condemns the “abominable attacks” of the Burmese junta in the state of Chin (west), where it is accused of having destroyed more than 100 homes and Christian churches, said Sunday Ned Price, spokesman for the state department.
“These heinous attacks show that it is urgent for the international community to hold the Burmese army to account and to take measures to prevent gross violations and abuses of human rights,” he said in a statement. .
Washington cited reports of “gross human rights violations” and the destruction “of more than a hundred homes and Christian churches”.
“We condemn these brutal actions of the Burmese regime against people, their homes and places of worship, which demonstrate the regime’s total disregard for the life and well-being of the Burmese people,” he added. .
Most of Thantlang’s residents had fled their town in clashes last month, with many crossing the border into India.
Save the Children said in a statement Friday that the city was “largely deserted” when the bombing started, and that its team had already left the scene following previous violence.
The NGO expressed its concern about the fate of 20 children who are still in Thantlang, believing that these latest fights are the sign of a “crisis which is worsening in Burma”.
Burma has been in chaos since the February military coup followed by fierce repression.