Myanmar junta troops raided Lelti and Maunghtaung villages in Budalin Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday, killing three civilians and taking 60 others hostage, according to local sources.
Around 50 Myanmar military soldiers and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia raided Lelti Village, firing mortar shells as they advanced.
A father and a son were killed by the shelling and two other villagers were injured. Junta troops also shot dead a female villager outside the village.
“They came to Lelti Village from Kutaw Village and fired mortar shells. A house was struck and two people were killed immediately. A woman in her 50s was also shot dead by them,” said a resident.
Junta troops detained 20 villagers as human shields and went to neighboring Maunghtaung Village. Some 50 houses there were torched by regime forces and 40 villagers were taken hostage.
The whereabouts of the detained villagers is still unknown, but it is believed that they were taken to Kutaw Village where junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militia are based.
On Monday, those junta troops clashed for around half an hour with a People’s Defense Force (PDF) near the village of Sipar.
A PDF leader and a fighter died in the clash and two others were injured. Around seven junta soldiers are thought to have been killed, said a resistance fighter.
Lelti and Maunghtaung residents still dare not return to their villages.
“The villagers took rice and dried fish with them when they fled. They dare not go back because of reports that junta troops are staying in the village. They dare not return as the regime soldiers are inhumane and can shoot anyone on sight,” a Budalin resident told The Irrawaddy.
Almost all townships in Sagaing Region have experienced junta arson attacks and fighting in May and June.
Some 18,886 houses have been destroyed or damaged in arson attacks by military regime troops and their allies since last year’s coup up to the end of May this year, according to Data for Myanmar, an independent group documenting junta atrocities.
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