Around 1,062 houses from 9 villages in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region, were burnt down, and 9 people were killed by the military junta for no reason, in April 2024, according to the report of the Myingyan Civilian Movement Committee.
The villages mostly destroyed by fire were the villages Sanpya, Tang Saung, Kai Myauk, Tawpu, Udaya, Gingal, Yathar, Dar Kyun, Sin Chaung _ and Tawpu village was the most affected by the fire, and about 700 houses of this village were burnt down, an official of Myingyan Civilian Movement Committee told MPA.
“Tawpu is a large village with nearly 1,000 houses. Tawpu was burned down on April 8. The second most villages affected by fire were Yathar and Kai Myauk. The 126 houses from Yathar and 120 houses from Kai Myauk were burnt to ashes” said an official.
When a junta column was raiding and patrolling those villages, 9 people, including a monk, 7 men, and a woman, were killed. This woman was Daw Nyunt Swe from Kai Ma village, and she was shot at close range.
“On April 8, when they (junta troops) suddenly raided Phit Yin village early in the morning, the villagers were scared and ran away in a frenzy. When a father and his son ran to the side of Yathar village, the junta column followed to shoot them. And they (column) entered Yathar village and shot another person,” said a person close to the people who were killed in Yathar village.
The junta’s patrolling and burning down in Myingyan Township was the worst in April of 2024 among the arson attacks since the military coup in 2021 to now, an official of the Myingyan Civilian Movement Committee.
“In April, the counter-fighting between the defense forces and the junta column took continuous place. And the junta had many casualties. So, I think they (junta) set fire to the villages again and killed the people,” he said.
In March 2024, the military burned down over 500 houses and killed 9 people in Myingyan Township, and a woman among those 9 was raped and killed by fire.