All villagers including the village head, fled after the junta soldiers stationed in Maung Nwet Kyi village in Tandaungyi Township, Taungoo District, Karen State, threatened to shell the village with heavy artillery, according to local residents.
On 2 November, the military council ordered the village head to return seven junta soldiers who had been abducted by an armed group.
The military council threatened to instruct the Bayintnaung camp in Thandaunggyi to fire heavy shells at the villages if their detained members were not released. Following the threat, all locals, including the village head, fled the village on 3 November, according to a local resident.
“The military told the village head to negotiate with the armed group for the release of their detained members within a set timeframe. They threatened that if the members were not released, they would instruct the Bayintnaung camp in Thandaunggyi to fire heavy shells at the villages. The village head went to the armed group, but they claimed they had no knowledge of the situation and had not given such orders. Unable to take responsibility, the village head fled. When he fled, the villagers also fled out of fear,” said a local resident.
The Karen Information Center (KIC) is still seeking confirmation from the Karen National Union (KNU) regarding the military council’s claim that seven soldiers were abducted by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) while collecting sand in a stream near Maung Nwet Kyi village.
Maung Nwet Kyi, a mountain village, has a population of hundreds, and most of them have fled to Thandaunggyi where they have relatives and friends, according to residents.
A woman from a ward in Thandaunggyi said, “Most of the locals have arrived in Thandaunggyi. Some own houses here, while others have relatives in the area. There has been no shelling from Bayintnaung camp in the days following their displacement. I don’t know whether the soldiers were released or killed. Hundreds of villagers have fled, as it is a large village.”
Since 1995, the military government has been stationed at Bayintnaung camp, also known as the combat training school, in old Thandaunggyi, located in the Brigade-2 controlled area of the KNU’s Taungoo District. Prior to the coup, it functioned as a training school where military courses were conducted.
After the coup, the junta began firing heavy shells from the compound of the Bayintnaung training school towards villages near the Thandaunggyi area, resulting in civilian casualties, according to local sources.
Sent by KIC