Junta troops killed seven elderly residents in an arson attack on a village in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township on March 25, before abducting 40 civilians as human shields as they retreated.
Around 170 troops from the 11th Light Infantry Division raided Sone Kone village and burned almost all of its 300-plus houses. The seven victims killed in the fires ranged in age from 55 to their 70s and were suffering from health problems including eye complaints, stroke, and paralysis.
“We left them behind because soldiers were not so merciless in previous raids. When they came into the village, we had to flee and were unable to take the old and sick with us. We never thought that they would torch the entire village,” said a relative of one victim.
The junta troops then stopped in five villages between Budalin and Saipyin, taking 40 civilians hostage and using them as human shields. The troops entered Saipyin town on Sunday evening, according to residents.
“They took cover behind civilians as they entered the town, and they also fired shots, a Saipyin resident told The Irrawaddy. The indiscriminate shots killed one resistance fighter and injured a civilian.
It is understood that the civilians are still being held in a compound in Saipyin town.
“There are some seven villages between Budalin and Saipyin. We were forced to abort our mission to attack the troops with remote-controlled mines as they took cover behind civilians,” said a resistance fighter.
The troops are planning more raids as they move toward Ye-U and Depayin townships, according to local revolutionary forces.
Budalin has three wards and 54 village tracts consisting of 188 villages, with a population of about 150,000. Nearly 900 houses in 30 villages in Budalin have been torched by the regime since the coup. The village of Sone Kone is about six miles from Budalin and is located between the Northwestern Command of the Myanmar military and the town.
Twenty heads of cattle, other farm animals and crops were also destroyed in the arson attack.
