The Junta troops shot dead three displaced people who lived in Hai Yue Village in Min Hla Township, Tharyawaddy District, Bago Region, when they were returning to harvest rice, local residents said.
While three displaced people living in Hairu Village were returned to their fields to harvest rice in the first week of November, the junta troops who were lying in ambush suddenly opened fire upon them and died on the spot, said a local man.
“We have been avoiding battles for about a month and a half, and the rice has not yet been harvested. A couple named Ko Dal Gyi and Daw Kyi Lay and Zaw Myo Win told us that they would return to harvest the rice. We knew that they had died on the 7th,” he said.
The junta forces are shooting and killing innocent people as well as confiscating public homes, so the displaced people not to return to areas where the military situation is unstable, an official from Battalion 3802, Tharyarwaddy District said.
“The people who were shot now are not members of our force. They are ordinary people. The junta’s side is spreading propaganda that they are PDFs. Now these guys (junta troops) are not just shooting people; they are demolishing their homes and taking them away. The houses were built by Teak. They are great houses, so these guys want to sell them. I want to tell people not to come back to the areas where the fighting is going on. As soon as these guys (the Junta Forces) see people, they will not ask if they are civilians or not; they will shoot them right away,” he continued.
While the junta forces have been attacking due to the dominance of the People’s Defense Forces in the Bago Yoema (Bago Range), a battle broke out on November 8, killing three junta soldiers, a spokesman for Battalion (3802), Company (5), Tharyarwaddy District said.
“The 40-strong column (junta troops) was about to take the Shar Taw police outpost where we were stationed by surprise, but our guards knew in advance and were able to shoot first. The battle lasted for more than two hours, and there were no injuries on our side. They carried all the dead and wounded back and retreated,” Ko Vaka said.
The junta army has forced the people of the villages of Hai Yue, Pyinkatoe Khin, Hai Yue Lan Pauk, Bo Yone, and War Yar to be removed near the foothills of Bago Range, which belongs to Min Hla Township, Bagu Region, since mid-September – resulting in more than a thousand people being displaced.
