Over 12,000 residents displaced by fierce fighting in earthquake-hit northern Sagaing Township are in urgent need of food and shelter, according to locals and aid volunteers.
Many are from villages wrecked by the 7.7-magnitude quake that rocked central Myanmar in late March.
Residents fled after over 300 junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militias began raiding the famous pilgrimage site of Mingun, an hour from Mandalay city, on June 11. Another column backed by armored vehicles and artillery has been raiding villages along the Sagaing-Shwebo road since June 17, sparking clashes with resistance groups. Residents of more than 30 villages have fled the fighting.
“Locals have been displaced for over two weeks,” a Sagaing Township resident who is helping the displaced villagers told The Irrawaddy.
“The regime is using jet fighters to bomb displaced people in shelters. It’s also conducting daily artillery attacks. This is forcing people to flee from one place to another, and they don’t have enough food,” he added.
Junta battalions in Sartaung town – midway between Sagaing and Shwebo – and Tank Battalion 6005 are reportedly shelling the Shwebo-Sagaing road daily, targeting temporary shelters and forcing displaced people into the forest.
Ongoing clashes and blocked roads are making it difficult to deliver aid to displaced civilians.
“We are scrambling to find safe places. People assumed the raids wouldn’t last this long as previous attacks were short, so they didn’t bring much food,” one resident said.
“But the fighting is still raging and it looks like we won’t be able to return anytime soon. The raids were so sudden that some villagers fled with nothing,” he said. “We need food and shelter. The People’s Defense Force is helping us, but it’s not enough – things are getting harder by the day.”
Junta forces began advancing on Mingun at the end of March in a bid to establish control over the 20-kilometer stretch of river and road between Sagaing and Mingun. However, strong resistance from local anti-regime groups has halted their advance. As residents fled, junta troops occupied three villages along the road and are using them as bases to raid other villages.
A Mingun resident said locals are trapped – blocked from reaching Sagaing because of fighting along the road and cut off from Mandalay by the regime’s ban on Irrawaddy River traffic.
“We can only flee to Mingun, the Minwun hills, or river islands. Houses in my village were destroyed in the earthquake, and after receiving very little aid we now have to flee again. We have been hit by a double blow,” he said.
Last week, junta troops set fire to all 600 households in Mingun (South) village and arrested residents.
“They invaded and torched the village after strafing and bombing it by helicopter during intense fighting,” one local recounted. “The ground troops fired indiscriminately and arrested anyone they encountered, so people fled for their lives. Our village is home to the [late] Mingun Sayadaw’s monastery. We still don’t know if the monastery survived.”
Mingun Sayadaw was among the country’s most revered monks, known for serving on the sixth Buddhist Council.
Sagaing Township borders resistance-held Wetlet Township to the north and Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city and home to the junta military’s Central Command, to the east.
