Fresh attacks by junta troops on villages around the railway line in Sagaing Region have forced over 25,000 civilians to abandon their homes, local sources said.
Soldiers in seven separate columns unleashed heavy weapons and arson attacks on villages in three townships, forcing thousands of families to flee.
On Saturday, nearly 800 regime troops from Mandalay and Shwebo were attacking in a corridor running north from Sagaing through Wetlet and Shwebo townships, torching villages and firing heavy weapons, according to the head of Shwebo District Battalion 18 resistance group.
The troops split into columns and raided villages along the Mandalay-Shwebo-Myitkyina railway. The attacks forced thousands of residents from 31 villages in the three townships to flee their homes amid heavy monsoon rain.
“It is not clear whether they [junta troops] are preparing the railway or only conducting clearance operations. Residents are fleeing anyway because troops are killing anyone who confronts them,” said the resistance chief, who identified himself as Captain Eagle.
The villagers are sheltering in the forest amid heavy rain and lack food or medicine, he added.
“In the longer term, it will be more difficult for the residents because they won’t be able to return to their farms to make their living. Regime troops are shooting and killing villagers on farmland,” Captain Eagle told The Irrawaddy.
A Wetlet resident said four military columns are now raiding villages from their bases east and north of the township. The troops torched houses in Sa Khan Thar village on Tuesday.
“All the villagers in eastern Wetlet along the Irrawaddy River are fleeing amid the raid. We are also fleeing now,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Junta soldiers raiding settlements along the Mandalay-Shwebo-Myitkyina railway since August 15 have killed 20 residents of Sagaing and Wetlet townships over 20 days, according to resistance fighters.
