Myanmar junta raids in Tanintharyi Region have displaced around 6,000 residents, according to volunteers helping civilians.
On Friday morning, over 70 junta troops raided Ya Nge and Wae Yit villages in Thayetchaung Township, burning houses and seizing at least seven people, according to a resident.
Fighting with resistance groups means roads are blocked and people and aid volunteers have to move by waterways, according to a volunteer helping displaced civilians.
He said civilians left their homes without mosquito nets or blankets and they need food, medicine and clothes.
A mother of three from Ya Nge, who is sheltering in a distant village with her children, fears for her husband who was detained by junta troops.
“We know nothing about him or the others seized. They might be dead or still being tortured,” she said.
Resistance groups say they are ambushing junta troops and raiding camps and outposts.
Chit Htwe, a volunteer assisting displaced civilians, said junta forces respond to resistance attacks with raids on innocent civilians.
On June 12, Thayetchaung People’s Defense Force (PDF) and other resistance groups attacked a junta and Pyu Saw Htee militia outpost in the east of Thayetchaung Township. The position was abandoned and resistance groups seized arms and ammunition, the PDF said.
Since fighting broke out on June 8 in Thayetchaung Township, a boy was killed by junta troops and an elderly displaced man died during regime shelling.
On June 11, Ko Wai Yan Hein, 23, a displaced Ya Nge villager, was killed by junta troops after he sheltered with his mother in a forest. His mother forgot her medicine and he was killed by junta troops while trying to retrieve them, said a Ya Nge villager.
At least 17 people were reportedly injured in fighting and junta shelling and over 20 are sick.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
At least 70 residents of Kanet Thiri and nearby villages were seized this month as human shields and have since been released.
Daw Na, an organization helping the displaced, said more than 34,000 Tanintharyi Region residents had left their homes by late May. That number is now estimated in excess of 40,000.
