Myanmar Junta Troops Kill 7 Sagaing Villagers in Arson Attack, Take 40 Hostage

By The Irrawaddy 28 March 2023

Junta troops killed seven aged residents in an arson assault on a village in Sagaing Area’s Budalin Township on March 25, earlier than abducting 40 civilians as human shields as they retreated.

Round 170 troops from the eleventh Gentle Infantry Division raided Sone Kone village and burned virtually all of its 300-plus homes. The seven victims killed within the fires ranged in age from 55 to their 70s and had been affected by well being issues together with eye complaints, stroke, and paralysis.

“We left them behind as a result of troopers weren’t so cruel in earlier raids. After they got here into the village, we needed to flee and had been unable to take the previous and sick with us. We by no means thought that they might torch your entire village,” mentioned a relative of 1 sufferer.

The junta troops then stopped in 5 villages between Budalin and Saipyin, taking 40 civilians hostage and utilizing them as human shields. The troops entered Saipyin city on Sunday night, based on residents.

“They took cowl behind civilians as they entered the city, they usually additionally fired photographs, a Saipyin resident advised The Irrawaddy. The indiscriminate photographs killed one resistance fighter and injured a civilian.

It’s understood that the civilians are nonetheless being held in a compound in Saipyin city.

“There are some seven villages between Budalin and Saipyin. We had been pressured to abort our mission to assault the troops with remote-controlled mines as they took cowl behind civilians,” mentioned a resistance fighter.

The troops are planning extra raids as they transfer towards Ye-U and Depayin townships, based on native revolutionary forces.

Budalin has three wards and 54 village tracts consisting of 188 villages, with a inhabitants of about 150,000. Almost 900 homes in 30 villages in Budalin have been torched by the regime because the coup. The village of Sone Kone is about six miles from Budalin and is situated between the Northwestern Command of the Myanmar navy and the city.

Twenty heads of cattle, different livestock and crops had been additionally destroyed within the arson assault.