Myanmar junta troops burned down businesses, a bus station, and homes in two districts of Sagaing region following resistance attacks on Wednesday and Thursday. They also seized at least 10 civilians during the raids.
In Taze town, a force of around 100 troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia arrested five male civilians during a burning spree, according to locals.
The arson attack was launched in the Myittar Myaing neighborhood after an early-morning explosion in the local shopping area.
“A stun grenade was detonated near Taze’s Myoma Market early Wednesday morning but there were no casualties. Three hours later, the soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee arrested at least five men from a tea shop in the market and a monastery. They didn’t even check in Myoma Market,” a representative of the Taze People’s Defense Force (PDF) told The Irrawaddy.
The combined junta force burned down Shwe Garden guesthouse, Thitsar Oo highway bus station, the Moe Myint San guesthouses, Moe Myint San Teashop and Myat Htoo Kywan hostel, the PDF representative said.
The junta has deployed around 180 soldiers from neighboring Kantbalu Township in Taze town and residents don’t dare go outside, he added.
Taze residents with no links to the resistance are being detained by Pyu Saw Htee militia out of personal hatred, a local said.
“Some of those seized are women,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Pyu Saw Htee militias are active in Kantbalu, Kyun Hla and neighboring Taze township, where they are forcing residents to undergo military training.
This was the second major arson attack junta troops have conducted in Taze town. They also torched around 20 shops in the Shaw KaTaw Pagoda area last year, according to residents.
Last month, junta forces in Taze town detained 13 civilians and killed three of them. The others are still missing, a resident said.
Further south in Sagaing, junta troops responded to a resistance attack in Salingyi Township by incinerating houses in Nyaung Pin Gyi village on Thursday morning.
“The PDF attacked the Nyaung Pin Gyi police station and killed at least three soldiers and seriously wounded another. They also seized a firearm,” a representative of the Salingyi People’s Administration told The Irrawaddy.
Junta troops then torched two houses in the village, which has been abandoned by residents amid fighting following a resistance attack on the local police station in July.
More than 1,000 houses in 17 Salingyi villages including Nyaung Pin Gyi have been incinerated in junta raids, the locals said.
As of July, junta forces had torched over 50,000 houses in Sagaing Region, according to the independent Data for Myanmar organization.
