Since the overthrow of Burma’s democratic government over a year ago and the establishment of a military dictatorship, the regime’s armed forces have waged a war against the population.
Recently, soldiers burned down houses and a three-storey public school in a village in Sagaing Region.
An officer with the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) in Kalay, one of the many groups fighting to overthrow the dictatorship, couldn’t say exactly how many buildings were burned between 10 and 11 April in Nat Chaung, but estimated that there were about 20.
He told Khonumthung News that this was the third attack by the Burma Army (BA) on the village. Almost 70 houses were burnt down in the previous attacks on Nat Chaung as well as Nat Myaung and Chaung Gwa, all in southern Kalay Township.
PDF fighters from Kalay and Yan Gyi Aung as well as the Chin National Defence Force, Chinland Defence Force for Kalay/Gangaw ambushed a column of BA at various points on their journey from Yan Gyi Aung to Kalay town. When the column of 30 vehicles stayed overnight in Nat Chaung, the soldiers raided and burnt the houses.
According to the PDF, four BA soldiers were killed in a raid on the convoy near the village on 10 April, and fighting continued the next day.
In other raids, four BA soldiers were killed near Hae Lok and two near Pan Moong River. Due to the violence, resistance fighters warned civilians not to travel on the road from Kalay to Gangaw for a week.
Fighting has been recurring in the Sagaing Region since many of the groups took up arms last May. The regime has been unable to wipe out resistance in the area, despite the civilian fighters being vastly outnumbered and outgunned.