Residents returned to Wunbe Inn to find valuables destroyed or stolen and possessions strewn across the floor.
Junta soldiers ransacked an entire village in the Sagaing Region township of Pinlebu late last month, breaking windows, smashing holes in walls and destroying household possessions, locals have told Myanmar Now.
The hundreds-strong population of Wunbe Inn had already fled when a military unit of roughly 150 soldiers arrived at the village on September 29. The residents returned two days later after the soldiers had left to find extensive damage to shops and homes.
“Not one house was spared,” said a resident. “They broke into every house and ransacked it. They even broke the televisions and took away whatever was valuable.” Among other things, the soldiers also destroyed 30 sewing machines, he added.
Wunbe Inn has over 320 households. On October 3, soldiers returned to the village and were still stationed there at the time of reporting. Some two thirds of the village’s population has also returned, the resident said.
On September 25 the Myanmar military launched an airstrike near Wunbe Inn, one of several in the region that day. Locals at the time said about 10 bombs landed in a nearby field, but that villagers had already fled.
Pinlebu is one of 25 townships across Chin, Sagaing and Kachin where the junta has imposed internet blackouts recently. Phone lines in the township have also been cut.
“The villagers have no way of knowing what is happening in the area,” the resident said. “We’re also worried about them getting false information.”
Soldiers also ransacked the nearby villages of Kani and Inga in late September, a member of the Pinlebu People’s Defence Force (PDF) said.
The headmaster of the middle school in Paykone village, Kyaw Zin Tun, was detained by soldiers for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement around the same time.
Some 400 soldiers have been stationed in Pinlebu and are carrying out continuous operations, the PDF member said.
On Friday they raided a PDF base near the town of Paungbyin, west of Pinlebu town, using heavy weaponry, he said, adding that it was hard to obtain further details because of the internet blackout.
“We don’t have many bullets to use, so we just have to hide from the military.” he said. “We had to flee before they started their attack. The administrator from the nearby village informed them about us.”
Resistance fighters killed around 40 junta soldiers and took their weapons during clashes in Pinlebu, Kawlin and Wuntho townships in late September, the underground National Unity Government’s defence ministry said.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) joined forces with PDF fighters in the region during the battles, it added. The KIA has not commented on its involvement.
The NUG declared a war of resistance against the junta on September 7, but since then numerous self-organising armed groups say they have received little or no support from the underground administration and are struggling to obtain weapons.
source myanmar-now