A civilian was injured and nearly a dozen houses were destroyed on Monday when the Myanmar military launched an air strike in Sagaing Region’s Shwebo Township after its ground troops clashed with local resistance forces, according to the resistance groups.
More than 80 regime troops based in the township traveled to Ta Kan Thar Village, which is 11 km from Shwebo Town, on Monday. The resistance forces attacked the troops near Ta Kan Thar for one hour, killing a soldier, according to a resistance member.
In the afternoon, a military fighter jet conducted aerial reconnaissance over the area, and an Mi-35 attack helicopter later assaulted the village for 45 minutes. Villager U Tun Oo, 46, suffered a head injury and nine houses in the village were destroyed in the air strike. Some cows and pigs belonging to the villagers were killed.
“While the military helicopter was firing on the village, the villagers were running around here and there. Ko Tun Oo was shot while he was trying to run from his house,” a Shwe Bo resistance member told The Irrawaddy.
Ta Kan Thar Village has 120 houses. Residents fled after the attack and don’t dare return because Myanmar junta troops are stationed just 4 km away.
“It will be at least a month before we can return home. As they are firing heavy weapons from where they are stationed, we dare not live in the village,” a resident of Ta Kan Thar told The Irrawaddy.
Around 2,000 residents of five villages in the area have been forced to flee their homes following Monday’s air strike and residents are in need of urgent assistance, according to a resistance member.
Given Shwebo’s location in resistance stronghold Sagaing, residents have endured frequent raids and arson campaigns by Myanmar regime troops, who want to wipe out popular support for the local resistance forces.
