Myanmar army troops have reportedly ordered residents of Namhpatkar village tract in Kutkai Township, Shan State, to leave their villages.
Residents of Namhpatkar village reported that troops from Infantry Battalion 123, stationed near the village, had come and ordered the residents to leave their villages from the first week of December.
“They asked people to leave the village and most of them have already fled. Now there are about 2,000 to 3,000 displaced people each in Monesi and Tamoenye. The residents of Tamoenye have also fled to Kutkai. In Monesi there used to be about 2,000 people in four camps for displaced persons. Only Kutkai is left. We don’t know when they will have to flee the town. Since the entire township has fled, there will be tens of thousands,” said a local from Namhpatkar.
Locals reported that the residents of the four adjoining districts have fled to nearby villages and fields since 2 December as they were ordered to evacuate by the IB 123 troops of the military council stationed in Namhpatkar.
A displaced woman from Namhpatkar village said, “All the people along the line of Namhpatkar, Monesi, Tamoenye and Karlai have fled. People from Kutkai area are no longer living in their village but have fled to safer places. Those who were accommodated in the camps for internally displaced persons in Karlai had to flee again. Tens of thousands of people have now fled. The number is set to rise. Now the town dwellers are fleeing to the villages and the villagers to the jungles,” they said.
Moreover, displaced people from Kutkai said that the Kutkai hospital, where those injured by the military council’s artillery attacks are being treated, is already short of medicines and supplies.
“Even patients from Namsalat village come to this hospital. The Kutkai hospital now lacks medical supplies. They have run out of threads to suture the wounds of emergency patients. The hospital now urgently needs medical supplies. We displaced people urgently need food,” said a displaced woman from Kutkai Township.
In Kutkai Township, ten people, including five women and four children, were killed and 15 others injured by Myanmar Army artillery shelling during the month-long Operation 1027. Over 6,000 internally displaced people are currently in urgent need of food and medicine.
Sent by Shan Herald.