About 100,000 residents of 40 villages are fleeing in Wetlet
According to local and aid workers, about 100,000 residents of 40 villages have fled their homes as the military council army has been clearing the area with six columns since the last week of August under the pretext of railway safety in Sagaing Division. Residents from 40 villages, including Yonepinkone, such as Pawintat, mingonelay, Thonesint, Kanbeit, Nabepinhla, Nyaungkan, Chatpye, Halin, Taungchankone, Indaung, Kyuntawgyi, Kyuntawlay, Minywartaung, Ywarthar are fleeing.
A local resident, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said that these villages are along the railway.
"Now, all the way to the east of the railway is running. There are also battles. There was still a fight in the southern villages before they came to Pawintat and Yonepinkone. The locals were arrested and also released. The column coming from the southern villages killed everyone they saw. In the south, there are a lot of deaths. A lot of people died in the villages in front of the railway and behind."
On September 6th, those columns burned down houses in Minkonelay village, and on September 7th, they burned down houses in Yonepinkone and Pawintat villages, which had about 400 houses. However, he said that the exact number of burnt houses is not yet known.
Another resident said that on September 8, the convoy from Sagaing City was patrolling the villages near Paukkan Station where the railway tracks had been destroyed. “There are two trains stationed at the southern side of the Paukkan. It could not move forward because the railway tracks had been destroyed. They are also repairing the roads in front of it." He also said that the Military Council troops had been patrolling for about 14 days. The locals also said that some of them returned to the village when the column left, but most of them had to flee to the forest and safety.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), there are more than 1.6 million people who have fled their homes due to the conflict after the military coup.
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