Junta troops destroyed a free clinic and People’s Defense Forces (PDF) bases during raids last week in Yay Lal Kyun, a river island comprising 44 villages and more than 10,000 people, in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region.
Regime forces raided five villages in Yay Lal Kyun from Thursday to Sunday, reportedly killing two civilians and forcing over 10,000 to flee.
On Friday they torched Nway Oo Kant Kaw clinic, which provided free health care for locals.
“We don’t know details about the extent of the damage. They might have destroyed all the medicines and equipment. It is a huge loss for us as the price of medicines is extremely high now and their availability is very limited,” said a staff member at the clinic.
The clinic was funded by three resistance forces in the local Pakokku District and began operating in October last year. Run by medics, nurses and health workers from the public health care system who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), the clinic provided health care services for local civilians including pregnant women, displaced people, and those injured in junta attacks.
About 65,000 doctors and health workers have joined the CDM since the coup, according to the CDM Medical Network. They and the health-care facilities they staff have been frequently targeted by regime troops.
Regarding the junta raids on resistance bases, a local resistance fighter said: “We have resistance groups in every village. Junta troops raided one village after another and seized or destroyed our weapons. We could not fight them as we were outgunned. And they are spreading false news that we fled out of fear and left behind our weapons.”
Most of the weapons seized were rudimentary rifles used in the early days of the revolution, he said. No resistance fighter was killed or injured in the raids.
Pro-junta Telegram channels said that over 80 handmade guns and 52 improvised explosive devices were seized at schools and monasteries in four villages.
Around 150 junta forces from the 99th Light Infantry Division and allied local Pyu Saw Htee militia raided villages in two columns.
Local resistance groups said they killed or wounded around 40 junta forces in ambush attacks on Thursday and Friday.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the claim of casualties.
One resistance fighter was killed and another injured in the fighting, according to the groups.
The junta raids also forced more than 10,000 residents from 23 villages to flee their homes. A volunteer helping displaced people said: “People normally keep extra rice, cooking oil and food for emergencies. But because of frequent arson attacks, they were not storing food so they ran out of supplies when they fled.”
Yesagyo Township People’s Administration reports that two civilians were killed in the raids, a man and a woman.
Houses were also torched, but details are still unknown.
The junta troops left for Yesagyo and Myingyan on Tuesday with valuables looted from villages in Yay Lal Kyun. A small number of troops are still deployed at a Pyu Saw Htee base in Min Ywar.
Villagers started to return to their villages on Tuesday but are in urgent need of food.
Junta troops have made repeated raids against Yay Lal Kyun and neighboring Myaung Township and Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region over the past two years, burning houses and killing civilians.
