Myanmar regime troops are attacking and burning villages near the World Heritage Site of Bagan in Nyaung-U Township, Mandalay Region, despite an absence of clashes on the ground, according to resistance groups and residents.
The Nyaung-U-based People’s Democratic Army (PDA) reported that regime soldiers entered Zee Zar Hmyin village on Tuesday, before torching houses and opening fire in nearby villages including Kyaukpyin Kan.
“Following the raid, junta troops fired 60mm heavy weapons and small arms indiscriminately into areas around the village where displaced civilians were sheltering. They also torched their makeshift shelters,” said a PDA spokesman.
Nyaung-U is located 150 kilometers southwest of Mandalay city and 135 km southwest of Sagaing Township, areas devastated by the earthquake that struck central Myanmar on March 28.
Fortunately, Bagan’s temple plain escaped the worst of the destruction.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) reported that the junta conducted attacks in Nyaung-U on Thursday, just 24 hours after declaring a truce to aid disaster-relief efforts.
The assault first began at 6am on Tuesday when a column led by two armored vehicles left Nyaung-U’s Ngathayauk Police Station and rampaged through villages, including Myay Thant Taung, Ma-U Pin, and Kya-Oh, firing heavy machine guns and other weapons, the NUG’s Defense Ministry said.
The PDA spokesman said the number of houses torched and civilians killed or wounded in the attack had yet to be verified.
However, the PDA said it had alerted locals to a junta list of 700 young people wanted for conscription in both urban and rural areas of Nyaung-U.
“We obtained the list during a military operation last month and have published it online to help those named escape arrest,” the spokesman said.
Forced conscription arrests are a frequent occurrence in Nyaung-U Township, and young people have reportedly fled their homes in large numbers to avoid regime raids.
Residents said junta troops snatched around 25 male mourners during a funeral in the township’s Nga Min May village last month. Eighteen of the group were arrested for conscription while the rest were released as either elderly or underage.
“They enter the village at will and forcibly recruit residents. Just days ago, a friend and three others were seized by junta troops while lunching at a pub on their way back from a motorbike trip to Kyaukpadaung,” a resident of Thabyay Ai (Pyinma) village recounted.
Despite declaring a three-week quake-relief truce, following the lead of the NUG and most ethnic armed organizations, the junta has continued its air and ground assaults in Mandalay and Sagaing regions, as well as Kachin State.
This article is supported by the Transition Promotion Programme, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
