Burma
Nyaung Pin Gyi village in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region. / CJ
Myanmar’s junta forces continued to burn houses at a Salingyi Township village in Sagaing Region after a resistance raid on a police station.
Last Friday resistance groups from three Sagaing townships and Loikaw in Kayah State destroyed Nyaung Pin Gyi’s police station.
An estimated 12 regime personnel were killed and weapons and ammunition seized, according to the civilian National Unity Government’s defense ministry.
Nyaung Pin Gyi, which had around 7,000 villagers, is across the Chindwin River from Monywa town, where the regime’s Northwestern Command is based.
An MI-35 helicopter attacked resistance forces after the police station had been burned down.
After resistance forces retreated, junta reinforcements arrived and torched village houses.
The arson continued until Thursday and five adjacent villages have suffered from house burning, displacing thousands of residents, according to the anti-regime Strike Column, which is assisting displaced people.
Residents told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that smoke continues to rise over Nyaung Pin Gyi.
On Wednesday a civilian was killed and two others injured when regime forces used 40mm and 60mm mortars to attack villages, said a resistance group.
Regime forces also reportedly detained eight villagers and burned houses during a raid on nearby Hnin Taw village.
“Nyaung Pin Gyi and four nearby four villages have been reduced to ashes. Regime forces are burning down the large villages,” a member of Salingyi People’s Defense Force told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Troops based at Nyaung Pin Gyi have destroyed roads in the area and are planning to rebuild the police station, according to residents.
Humanitarian aid is urgently needed by displaced villagers, according to a Sagaing charity.
