A 7-year-old girl was shot when Myanmar regime forces launched an hours-long assault on Tamu, Sagaing Region early Monday. The attack followed the deaths of soldiers in the town over the weekend as residents resisted earlier raids.
The girl’s condition was not known, according to a resident of the town near the Indian border, who said the 7-year-old was shot when she went outside her home after shooting erupted in her community. The number of casualties was also unconfirmed, as many residents have fled their homes and are now in hiding.
Monday’s raid started at 5:45 a.m. and gunfire was heard for at least six hours, according to residents.
A protester said junta forces destroyed large roadblocks set up by the anti-regime protesters to keep police and soldiers from entering the town.
“They destroyed the roadblock near the Zabuyadana monastery on Tamu’s Alaungpaya Road at 6:30 a.m. As we have less strength, we retreated and avoided a confrontation. But they continued the raids and launched RPGs twice. Then they bulldozed the roadblocks,” said a member of Tamu’s civil defense force.
“They shoot anything in sight,” the Tamu resident said, adding that they were not able to contact the town’s Grace Hospital. Regime forces raided the hospital, reportedly destroying equipment, beating staff and seizing their phones. A local ward administrator’s home was also raided.
Another resident said a young man who was detained during the raid was tied to a lamppost on the street after being accused of having a gas-powered gun at his home.
Tamu residents have taken up improvised arms and explosives to defend themselves from the regime forces’ atrocities, following the death of a peaceful protester on March 26.
At least 18 regime security forces died when the resistance forces threw grenades at military trucks on April 10, following military raids on anti-regime protesters’ barricades early that morning. On April 4, at least four soldiers were killed by Tamu residents when troops fired on protesters’ barricades.
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