A junta army captain threatened to burn down two villages in the Karen National Union (KNU) administered area if the villagers did not leave the villages on 11 September.

The incident happened in Nyaunglebin District in the KNU-controlled township of Mone in Bago Region, according to a KNU statement.

It said that on 11 September junta Captain Zeyar Lin threatened to burn down the two villages of Tamarkhaw and Taungsu if the villagers did not leave.

Both villages come under the KNU Mone Township administration which has replaced the junta township administration.

Following Captain Zeyar Lin’s threats, a member of the KNU administration persuaded all the villagers of Taungsu Village to stay in the village because the KNU would protect them.

Unfortunately, there were no KNU administrators in Tamarkhaw Village to calm down the villagers, so the whole village of 334 people from 61 households fled to Noboekhee Village and other nearby villages on the west bank of the Sittang River.

Since the coup in February 2021 until July 2022, 12,453 people have fled from 46 villages in Nyaunglebin District’s Mone Township because of fighting, according to the KNU statement.

From the beginning of August till 13 September 2022 the war displaced 6,212 people from 15 villages in Mone Township, according to the KNU.