Around 5,000 residents of nine villages have fled their homes after Myanmar junta infantry attacked and occupied a village in Katha Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday.
Seventy soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 121 based in neighboring Mabein Township, Shan State, launched an unprovoked attack on Pyin Htaung Lay village early on Tuesday, according to Katha People’s Defense Force (Katha-PDF).
The regime troops then burned around 30 houses in the village to the ground, a Katha PDF member told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
The junta unit is now using the village as an artillery base to shell nearby civilian settlements.
Katha PDF resistance fighters responded by deploying explosive weapons against the occupiers on Tuesday.
Junta troops were still stationed at the village as of Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, junta reinforcements from Shan State are reportedly raiding villages along the township’s Shweli River as they make their way to Pyin Htaung Lay.
Thousands of residents from Pyin Htaung Lay and eight surrounding villages have fled their homes and taken shelter at relatives’ houses in the township, said the Katha PDF representative.
Tension remains high in the area as local resistance groups await the movement of junta troops occupying Pyin Htuang Lay.
“The junta is committing the most atrocious crimes against the people. The whole country can only enjoy peace when we win our revolution. So, I ask our people to supply the revolution with whatever they can,” said the PDF official.
In late August, the same military unit burned down 100 houses in raids on three villages in Katha Township – Inn Da Yant, Bant Bway Kone and Done Awt – forcing 2,000 residents to flee their homes.
