The military junta set on fire Ngagyi Ai village in Khan Thar village tract, Kawlin Township, Upper Sagaing Region, on the Shwebo-Indaw-Myitkyina Road, at around 12:00 noon on February 29, according to local residents.
The military column _ that burned down Ngagyi Ai village _ is a column of 200 troops _ that came to reinforce Thetfula Pagoda Hill at Kyauktan village, in the eastern part of Kawlin Township, from Koe Taung Bo village in Kantbalu Township.
“I heard the village was burned yesterday. Those people killed were not villagers of Ngagyi Ai, but were 3 local people from another region who came to work. It is not yet known who they are because of the military situation,” a Kawlin resident told MPA.
“They (junta) set fire on Ngagyi Ai village, joining with a military column from Koe Taung bo and supporting heavy artilleries shooting from Thetfula military hill and Kyauktakn village. More than 30,000 displaced people are fleeing the war from about 30 villages, and some of them fled to towns where their relatives are,” said a person close to the Resistance Forces.
In addition, the junta troops from Thetfula Pagoda hill were burning down Kyauktan village with 3 columns, at 4:00 p.m. on March 1, according to Kawlin Revolution (KR) reporting the local news.
The Kawlin People’s Defence Force (KLPDF) reported that “On February 23, the local defense forces started with an offensive attack to the junta camps _ stationed at Thetfula Pagoda hill, on Shwebo-Myitkyina Road near Kyauktan village in Kawling Township, for more than 2 years, and then the junta military was fighting back, reinforcing on February 26, so the military currently is tension.”
Currently, the local defense forces are attacking with an offensive to Thetfula military hill in the eastern part of Kawlin town. They are operating the city capture battle for Pinlebu town in the western Kawlin town. So the junta military is carrying out aerial bombardments.
“When the junta military bombed by air, but also the entire town of Kawlin not only the nearby villages _ Kyunhlakone, Kwintaung, Letpankwe, Kyutaw, Ywama, Saidu and villages in the west of the town _ were destroyed. Now those villages are being burned again. We are also fleeing the war,” said an IDP woman.
The local People’s Defense Forces (PDF) and the allied forces captured the town of Kawlin on November 6 last year. Still, the junta military took control of it again on February 12 this year.