Myanmar junta column torches 250 homes in Nyaung-U Township as rainy season begins

Mizzima

A Myamar junta column has raided and burned down Kutaw village in the southern pocket of Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U Township, destroying an estimated 250 civilian homes. The devastating arson attack has left approximately 1,500 residents displaced and exposed to severe weather elements just as the regional monsoon rains begin to intensify.

According to local community sources, the assault was carried out by an operational strike column consisting of roughly 300 troops mobilized from bases in Ngathayauk and Nyaung-U townships.

The unit had been aggressively advancing through rural tracts along the administrative border of Nyaung-U and Kyaukpadaung townships since 23 May 2026.

Witnesses reported that the column advanced from neighbouring Hpalankan village toward Kutaw on 24 May, instigating an armed clash with local defensive forces. Prior to entering the residential layout, the military forces unleashed an indiscriminate barrage of heavy artillery.

“They fired heavy weapons before entering the village. Nearly 250 houses were completely destroyed by the shell impacts and the resulting fires that swept through the dense structures,” a local resident said.

Kutaw village has now been burned twice. In early March, junta troops also set fire to around 30 houses in the village. A woman from Kutaw said the two incidents have affected about 1,500 residents, many of whom are now struggling to survive.

“Now we can’t even return to the village to live,” she said. “We have to stay in the forest and in other villages. We are also facing food shortages, and we don’t even have tents for shelter.”

As the rainy season has begun, local residents said displaced villagers are in urgent need of shelter and clean drinking water.

The military column that torched Kutaw village reportedly spent the night in Taungtaw village on 27 May and left the village in two separate groups on the morning of 28 May, one heading west and the other north, according to locals.