Three residents of Dawngaykhu village in eastern Demoso Township, Karenni (Kayah) State, were reportedly shot dead by Myanmar regime troops when they sneaked back into the village to collect their belongings.
One of the men said the they came under junta fire when they returned to their village around 8:30 am on 2 May to retrieve their belongings.
“We returned to the village to carry back the rice. We decided to go there first by motorcycle. The junta soldiers were patrolling along the way. When they saw us and shot at us, we had to run for our lives,” he recounted.
He went on to say that all three were able to escape unharmed despite the incessant gunfire from the junta soldiers.
The villagers had to risk their lives to get their food after being displaced by the junta troops who had been stationed in Dawngaykhu village since March last year, he added.
“We decided to return to the village because we want to secure our livelihood in the long term. We don’t know for sure what the situation will be in the future. We just had to rely on our luck. Since all our rice had remained in the village, we had to risk our lives and carry it back,” he explained.
According to those who returned to the village to collect the goods, about a third of the houses in Dawngaykhu village in the eastern part of Demoso, where the fighting is particularly fierce, were destroyed by fire.
Sent by Kantarawaddy Times.
