The village, Bang Gan Village, in Nam Tu Township was home to 35 ethnic Ta’ang households.

The villagers have preferred to stay close to their ancestral homelands rather than move into towns further away. Some have moved to makeshift shelters in nearby paddy fields while others have moved to the monastery in the nearby village of Wan San.

Ban Gan villagers told SHAN that in mid-November about 300 government troops from Battalion 88 accused them of supporting the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

One 37-year-old villager, Ai La, was taken by the Burma Army and forced to work as a porter. The villagers allege that on 13 November he was killed when the army fought with the TNLA.

Ai Yi from Bang Gan said: “The battle happened away from the village. After that the Burma Army burned our village on November 14 and 29.”

When government forces set fire to Bang Gan village for the first time, locals said that not all the houses were destroyed. However, after the second attack, the entire village was uninhabitable. After the the soldiers set fire to the village for the first time the villagers went and hid in a nearby forest. They were still hiding there when the army returned for the second time to burn down the remaining houses.

A villager who did not want to be identified said: “We ran away and took nothing.”

Ai La's wife, three-year old son and one-year old daughter were among the displaced.

Due to ongoing conflict in the area SHAN was unable to get photos of the damage caused by the army in Bang Gan until 8 December.

According to The Border Consortium and Burma Link, in the last 20 years, more than 3,700 villages in Burma have been destroyed forcing their residents to relocate. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that Burma’s population of internally displaced people is well over 500,000.

By SIMMA FRANCIS and ZAAI ZAAI LAO MURNG / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI