The regime burned down people’s homes in Tharyar Kon, although there had been no previous fighting in the village in Shwegu Township, Kachin State.
However, fighting happened day earlier when the Myo Hla People’s Defence Force (PDF) ambushed the same column of 80 Burma Army (BA) soldiers while they were guarding a flotilla on the Irrawaddy River on 5 September. Soldiers from Infantry Battalion IB 77, under Light Infantry Division 88, reportedly suffered causalities during the raid that happened between Tharyar Kon and Min Kyaung Kon.
“We still don’t know how many houses the army burnt down because we can’t go back, but we could see huge plumes of smoke over the village,” a resident of Tharyar Kon, who wishes to remain anonymous, told KNG. She said the villagers have fled to Kyauk Gyi or are staying in the jungle.
”They burnt down the school…claiming that the PDF soldiers were staying there,” another local source also requesting anonymity has said.
KNG is trying to confirm if they’re were any civilian causalities and what damage was done to Tharyar Kon, which has 200 houses and is about seven miles from Shwegu and located on the banks of the Irrawaddy River.
After attacks by resistance groups trying to overthrow the dictatorship, the regime often retaliates by attacking unarmed civilians who happen to be living in the area.
