Junta troops burn down three homes in the village of Larwhe after nearly all of the residents flee.
A battle between Karenni resistance forces and the Myanmar army in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township on Tuesday forced around 300 people to flee from their homes, according to a representative of one of the anti-junta armed groups.
The three-hour clash took place near the 70-household village of Larwhe at 2pm on Tuesday, with the Pekhon People’s Defence Force (PDF), Loikaw PDF, Central Myanmar Regional Operation Task Force, Karenni National Defence Force (KNDF) and the Karenni Army (KA) all fighting the junta’s armed forces.
Four members of the Karenni alliance were injured, a spokesperson for the Pekhon PDF said.
“Some junta soldiers died too but we still haven’t gotten the official numbers yet,” he told Myanmar Now.
Nearly all of Larwhe’s 300 residents were displaced by the fighting, and junta troops occupied the village, staying in the local monastery.
“We don’t dare to go back into the village as the military is still stationed there, so we are facing a lot of hardships,” a Larwhe local said on Wednesday, adding that the villagers did not have time to gather any belongings before running.
The military fired heavy artillery during Tuesday’s clash, the explosions of which caused an elderly woman in Larwhe to suffer a fatal heart attack, the local man told Myanmar Now.
On Wednesday afternoon, the junta’s forces reportedly set fire to some of the abandoned homes in Larwhe and then retreated after being attacked by the Pekhon PDF. Members of the PDF were later able to put out the fire, but only after three houses were lost.
A Karenni alliance including the Pekhon PDF attacked junta units occupying the base of a hill near Kathe village in the township on October 26, leading to a major clash. Some 400 locals were displaced, and 19 villagers reportedly arrested by the military.
The Pekhon PDF also ambushed the military’s Pekhon-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 336 on October 22.
Pekhon has a heavy military presence, with LIB 421, and engineering, artillery and signal battalions also based in the township in addition to LIB 336. The No. 7 Military Operation Command headquarters are also located in Pekhon.
The military council has not released any information on the recent operations.
source myanmar-now