Monyway and Kyaymon burn on Wednesday. / Supplied
Myanmar junta troops have reportedly been burning houses and detaining hundreds of villagers near Monywa, the capital of Sagaing Region, since Tuesday.
Approximately 80 troops raided Monyway and Kyaymon villages on Tuesday morning, shooting and firing mortars.
The villages are National League for Democracy strongholds about 16km apart in the south of Monywa Township, beside the Monywa-Mandalay road.
The villagers held regular protests almost every week and organized a protest committee.
“They detained anyone they could find in three monasteries in the village,” said a Kyaymon resident who escaped to a nearby village.
Elderly people and children were also being held and the house of the NLD’s village committee chair in Monyway was burned down, residents said. He had already fled the village.
Reinforcements arrived in the evening and at least 150 troops were deployed in the village.
Ko Arkar of the Monywa People’s Defense Force said: “We can see burning houses from a distance. Villagers tell us that many male villagers have been beaten and interrogated.”
The Monyway and Kyaymon Protest Committee said at least eight houses had been burned down and more than 300 residents from both villages were still under detention.
“In Monyway, young people, including women, are still being beaten and interrogated if they are suspected of having links to resistance groups,” the committee announced.
On Wednesday morning, eight military trucks and a bulldozer arrived at Lal Zin village, which is near Monyway, to destroy minor roads.
Ko Arkar said the junta wants to force villagers to use the highway and to stop resistance forces using multiple routes.
Junta vehicles are regularly attacked with landmines on the road in the township.
A 42-year-old Kyaymon resident said he was very worried about his family who were being detained at the village monastery.
“I don’t dare to go back as they could arrest and beat anyone coming to the village.”
