Junta troops burned down houses in Nge Thin Kyi Village, in Sagaing’s Khine Oo Township on 3 April, according to the Khin Oo Township Information Officer.

He said: “Junta forces marched into the village and have remained deployed there until now. No one has been able to enter the village so we don’t yet know how much collateral damage there has been.”

Approximately 80 junta troops came and attacked Nge Thin Kyi Village, about 13 miles from Khine Oo Town, with heavy weapons, at around 9:30 a.m, and burned down the houses. There are over 1,000 households in the village and about 3,000 villagers had to flee the fires, according to a local source.

Previously, on 1 April, the same troops had attacked the villages of Htatnaung and Minwasaitkwin and set houses on fire. They then split into groups and left for Shwe Lu Ai Village on 2 April, according to a member of the Khine Oo People’s Defence Force (PDF).

He said that when the troops arrived at the entrance of Shwe Lu Ai Village they opened fire with heavy weapons and killed three PDF members carrying out their duties. They were Ko Moe Wai Aung (age 19), Ko Thet Tu (age 19), and Ko Phyo Wai Aung (age 20).

From the coup on 1 February 2021 until 29 March 2022 more than 773 households have been burned down and 66,250 people had been displaced, according to a report from the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar).