Myanmar Military Continues Arson Campaign Against Resistance Fighters

A house burned down in the Kin village of Myanmar. Photo: Myanmar Now

Since the start of 2022, the Myanmar military has burned over a hundred villages across Myanmar as the junta attempts to stifle opposition to its February 2021 coup. The arson has destroyed over 8,000 homes since the coup, and more than 52,000 civilians have been displaced in the last week of February alone, according to the UN. Despite numerous witness statements, the military refuses to take responsibility for the damage, and blames the arson on resistance forces.

In the regions of Magway and Mandalay, the junta began destroying buildings while investigating individual disappearances. In Magway, the community Myit Phyar may have been targeted because of the escape of a People’s Defence Force (PDF) resistance fighter from junta custody. 

“They came to our village in three military trucks to look for the missing PDF member and started torching our village for no reason at all,” said a Myit Phyar citizen. 

PDF is widely thought of as the legitimate and democratically elected government of Myanmar. In searching for the fighter, soldiers bombed the village before burning several houses to the ground and reducing them to ashes. 

In Mandalay, military forces came to the village of Kin on April 7, accompanied by the Pyu Saw Htee ultranationalist group, which is being armed by the Myanmar military, according to multiple sources. The military was investigating the death of a resident monk known as Soe, who had been shot to death after being accused of acting as a military informant. According to local accounts of the April 7 raid, around 20 villagers were taken for interrogation, but motivations for the arson may not have been directly tied to Soe.

“The soldiers didn’t even know which house belonged to whom. The Pyu Saw Htee members pointed at the houses, the owners of which were either the people they didn’t like or their business rivals,” said an officer in the township’s anti-junta defense force. “Only then did the soldiers start torching the houses.”

In the region of Sagaing, 67 homes in the village of Shauk Khar were burned down following a number of clashes between the military and local defense forces. According to a resident account, the conflict was initiated by the military, and resistance forces were firing back only to provide a diversion for villagers to escape the area. 

“The military started firing heavy artillery shells shortly after that, forcing the defense forces to withdraw,” said the resident. “Then, the military started torching the village.” Junta forces only ceased looting and destroying homes when resistant forces employed drones to retaliate. 

In southeastern Kayin State, there have been similar clashes between military forces and the Karen National Liberation Army, an armed branch of the political organization Karen National Union (KNU) and local resistance group Cobra Column over the last year. The KNU-controlled town of Lay Kay Kaw had formerly been seen as a safe haven for anti-coup activists, but since last December, thousands of its citizens have been displaced. 

Major Tin Lin Aung with seized weapons. Photo: PVTV 

On April 10, around 300 junta soldiers clashed with resistance forces in Lay Kay Kaw, bombing and shelling the town. During the clashes, anti-junta forces killed 40 junta soldiers, captured a military captain, Tin Lin Khaing, and seized some weaponry, according to the National Unity Government. Two resistance fighters were also killed, according to a Cobra Column spokesperson. 

“We told the military to withdraw but they sent more reinforcements and fighter jets, resulting in the continuation of the battle,” said KNU spokesperson Pado Saw Taw Nee.