One civilian was killed and villages were looted on Thursday as troops in a Myanmar junta convoy continued their trail of destruction through Sagaing’s Salingyi Township.
The military convoy of 19 vehicles with around 300 troops left Salingyi town bound for neighboring Pale Township on Wednesday. Its troops have been raiding villages along the way, forcing over 20,000 civilians to flee their homes, according to locals.
On Wednesday, the anti-regime Burma National Revolution Army (BNRA) attacked the convoy near Bike Thayat village. Junta forces retaliated by calling in a helicopter gunship to strafe the area. Further down the road, the Salingyi Special Task Force ambushed the convoy with mines and drone bombs.
Calling themselves the Tiger-Ogre column, the convoy troops killed a 38-year-old civilian and looted rice, oil, fuel and other property from villages on Thursday, residents said.
“They raided the villages and carried everything to their vehicles. Salingyi villagers are now returning to their houses, as the convoy has entered Pale,” a Salingyi Township People’s Administration spokesperson told The Irrawaddy.
In Pale Township, thousands fled their homes on Thursday as convoy troops continued to attack and loot villages, according to the Pale Township People’s Administration.
The convoy left Pale early Friday morning heading for Gangaw over the border in Magwe Region. Local resistance forces retaliated with mine attacks, but details of the clashes are not yet known.
“It is hard to guess which way the convoy is heading. There are three [pro-junta] Pyu Saw Htee militia villages along the Pale-Gangaw Road. We don’t know if the troops are transporting rations to those villages or to Magwe Region,” a representative of Pale Township People’s Administration told The Irrawaddy.
The Salingyi Township People’s Administration guessed that the convoy was looting villagers’ food and fuel for transport to Magwe’s Gangaw Township.
Junta troops often raid villages for supplies when their own bases run short.
However, the People’s Defense Forces that control Gangaw make it difficult for junta troops to loot villages there.
“Therefore, we think that the troops are transporting supplies and weapons to Gangaw,” the Salingyi Township People’s Administration spokesperson told The Irrawaddy.
Salingyi residents have been heavily targeted by the junta’s terror campaign as their township is strategically located between Yinmarbin, Pale and Gangaw townships. Over 3,000 civilians are currently displaced in Salingyi, according to its People’s Administration.
