Fleeing residents cross a torrent of runoff caused by heavy rains in Kani township, Sagaing region, on Sunday. / Pyae Aung Naing (Kani)
By the irrawaddy May 15, 2023
The junta's raids on two townships in the Sagaing region in the past three days have forced 16,000 people to flee during heavy rains and flooding from Cyclone Mocha.
Before making landfall in Myanmar's western Rakhine state on Sunday, the storm began unleashing torrential rains on neighboring Chin, Magwe and Sagaing state regions on Friday.
After battering Rakhine and its capital Sittwe with top wind speeds of 175 mph, the cyclone moved into the Magwe and Sagaing regions and Kachin state on Monday.
Around 3,000 residents in western Khin U township were forced to flee their homes in heavy rain as a military detachment and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia stormed Chan Thar Gone village and nearby settlements early Sunday. , according to the local resistance media unit of the Khin U municipality. News.
Regime forces used heavy weapons and explosives to attack the village.
They also ransacked houses and stole food from neighbors.
A four-year-old boy was also injured when regime troops attacked the nearby village of Inn Pat with weapons and explosives, the media unit reported.
In retaliation, local resistance groups launched landmine ambushes in four locations against regime forces returning to their bases after raiding and looting villages, said the Khin U Special Forces Organization, which coordinated the ambush.
The resistance group claimed that 12 regime forces and the Pyu Saw Htee militia were killed in the ambush. Ammunition was also seized from retreating regime forces, according to the combined resistance groups.
Meanwhile, more than 13,000 people from five clusters of villages in Kani Township, Sagaing, were forced to evacuate due to heavy rain and flooding after junta detachments began attacking on Friday.
โMilitary columns have been attacking towns since the start of the storm on May 12. On Saturday, regime forces occupied Min Ma village, forcing residents to flee into the forest amid heavy rain," a rescue worker told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.
Junta forces also captured a 35-year-old resident of Twin Village and held him captive in Min Ma.
Displaced villagers urgently need food and medicine as transportation routes have been cut off by floodwaters, the rescuer said.
On Sunday, resistance groups attacked the 120 junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia stationed in Min Ma village, according to Ko Pyae Aung Naing of the Kani General Strike Committee.
The clash left one resistance member dead and six others wounded, he wrote on Facebook. A regime fighter jet shelled areas near the clash site in the afternoon.
The resistance attack came after junta detachments raided Twin Village on Friday, looting houses and destroying motorcycles and furniture that they could not take away.
Two resistance fighters were killed and three others wounded on Friday when resistance groups clashed with junta forces that raided and looted villages, Pyae Aung Naing said.
