Myanmar Regime Ratchets Up Atrocities Against Civilians in Heartland

The military regime has escalated aerial bombardments of civilians and other atrocities across resistance-held territory in the Bamar heartland amid a 100-day ultimatum for opposition forces to surrender.

Parts of Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe regions have suffered escalating junta raids, including arbitrary killings and the burning of entire villages, as well as indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes over the past three weeks.

Thousands have been displaced by the scorched-earth campaign.

Mandalay

Since late March, regime forces have been raiding and burning villages in northern Myingyan Township, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Soldiers bombed and torched houses in the Talokemyo village tract on Sunday, and even bulldozed civilian homes, according to the Myingyan People Strike Committee, the main resistance group active here.

On Wednesday afternoon, regime fighter jets bombed a rally for donations in Nat Gyi village in nearby Ngazun Township killing a 15-year-old girl and injuring a dozen other civilians, it said.

Raids on villages in the eastern part of Myingyan continued into Thursday, it added.

Military units are also raiding villages in nearby Taungtha Township, according to locals.

Clashes with resistance People’s Defense Forces (PDF) broke out in Taungtha on Tuesday and Wednesday as they attacked regime troops raiding and burning villages, a local told The Irrawaddy. “The regime used warplanes in the fighting,” the local added.

Last Saturday, fighter jets also bombed Zayatgyi village in eastern Thaungtha, killing a family of three and burning houses. On Monday, artillery rounds struck Natogyi Township’s Moe Tain Pyin Village near the border with Taungtha, killing a 12-year-old girl and injuring others. The following day, artillery rounds fell near Natogyi’s Htan Taw Ma village, wounding two people, according to locals.

Earlier this month, local news reports said regime troops executed eight civilians including a pregnant woman and burned down around 300 houses in three villages during raids in Taungtha.

Magwe

Regime forces have also reportedly been raiding and looting villages in Magwe Region’s Pauk, Myaing and Pakokku townships, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

Sagaing

Some 600 regime troops have been conducting raids and arson attacks on villages Sagaing Region’s Pale and Yinmabin townships since early April, burning down scores of houses and forcing more than 10,000 villagers to flee.

Reinforcement have been sent from the regime’s Northwestern Command based in Monywa, a resistance member told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

On Tuesday, four junta warplane bombed a densely populated part of Kanduma Village in resistance-held Taze Township, killing six people including resistance fighters and setting houses, shops and vehicles ablaze.

In northern Sagaing, the regime is conducting a major offensive conducted to recapture PDF-controlled Indaw town and Katha Township.

In a cabinet meeting Monday, putschist President Min Aung Hlaing said PDF must surrender while ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) should join peace talks within 100 days.

Several resistance groups have rejected the ultimatum.