Repeated raids force more than 3,500 villagers to flee township in Sagaing region

Junta raids in the past five days have forced more than 3,500 villagers to flee their homes in Khin-U township, locals told RFA on Thursday.

They said troops began burning houses in eight villages, including Koke Tet, Yone Pin and Thin Paung, on May 7.

A 60-year-old woman from the village of Koke Tet, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that the displaced people no longer have enough food.

“There is nothing at home. The villages were burned down,” she said.

“Now people are hiding in the forest. And we are fleeing from one place to another while the army raids the villages and we couldn’t take anything from home when we fled.”

The number of houses burned by the military is not yet known, as locals said they were too afraid to return home while the troops were still in the township.

Khin-U has been repeatedly attacked by junta forces since the 2021 coup. Around 70 villages have been attacked by the junta, which burned more than 20,000 houses in the municipality between February 1, 2021 and April this year, according to the pro-democracy Khin-U Information Group.

A 60-year-old man, who also requested anonymity, told RFA that he has been forced to flee his home in Khin-U township four times in the past two years and that he and his neighbors are struggling to survive.

The situation is similar throughout the Sagaing region. Nearly 750,000 people have fled their homes due to fighting and insecurity since the coup, according to a May 6 statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

RFA calls to the junta spokesman for the Sagaing region, Aye Hlaing, who is also the regional minister for social affairs, went unanswered on Thursday.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.