BANGKOK: Myanmar junta troops have torched hundreds of buildings during a three-day raid in the country’s north, local media and residents said, as the military struggles to crush resistance to its rule.
The Sagaing region has seen fierce fighting and bloody reprisals since the coup last year, with local “People’s Defense Force” (PDF) members clashing regularly with junta troops.
Analysts say the informal militia has surprised junta forces with its effectiveness, and the military has on numerous occasions called in air strikes to support its troops on the ground.
Troops torched hundreds of buildings in the villages of Kinn, Upper Kinn and Ke Taung over three days last week, locals and media reports said.
On May 26, villagers in Kinn fled as soldiers approached and began shooting into the air, said one resident who requested anonymity.
“The next morning we saw smoke rising from our village before they left.
“Over 200 houses were burned down... my house was totally burned down, only the concrete foundation is left.”
Drone footage purporting to show the aftermath obtained by AFP showed columns of smoke rising into the sky from the villages, set along a roughly eight-kilometer stretch of the Chindwin river.
A health clinic seen in the video matched the geolocation of one in Ke Taung village.
AFP digital verification reporters confirmed the footage had not appeared online before last week but could not independently verify reports from the region.
Soldiers “raided and destroyed our houses,” said Ke Taung villager Aye Tin, who requested to use a pseudonym.
“And they also burned motor boats that we use for transport and for carrying food for our village, including my boat.
“My life is ruined, as I have lost my home... and I nothing left to do for a living.”
Satellite images from US space agency NASA showed fires in locations that matched Ke Taung and Kinn villages last week.
The junta has previously rebuffed claims its troops have torched houses, accusing “terrorist” PDF fighters of starting the fires.
In a speech on Tuesday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said “efforts were made to minimize the casualties as much as possible in performing the counterattacks to terror acts.”
“Now, the country is in tranquillity,” he said, according to state newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar.
Myanmar villagers accuse junta troops of burning spree
https://arab.news/predu
Myanmar villagers accuse junta troops of burning spree
- Troops torched hundreds of buildings in the villages of Kinn, Upper Kinn and Ke Taung over three days last week
- Satellite images showed fires in locations that matched Ke Taung and Kinn villages last week
EU to suspend 93 billion euro retaliatory trade package against US for 6 months
- “With the removal of the tariff threat by the US we can now return to the important business,” Gill said
- The Commission will soon make a proposal “to roll over our suspended countermeasures”
BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it would propose suspending for another six months an EU package of retaliatory trade measures against the US worth 93 billion euros ($109.19 billion) that would otherwise kick in on February 7.
The package, prepared in the first half of last year when the European Union was negotiating a trade deal with the United States, was put on hold for six months when Brussels and Washington agreed on a joint statement on trade in August 2025.
US President Donald Trump’s threat last week to impose new tariffs on eight European countries over Washington’s push to acquire Greenland had made the retaliatory package a handy tool for the EU to use had Trump followed through on his threat.
“With the removal of the tariff threat by the US we can now return to the important business of implementing the joint EU-US statement,” Commission spokesman Olof Gill said.
The Commission will soon make a proposal “to roll over our suspended countermeasures, which are set to expire on February 7,” Gill said, adding the measures would be suspended for a further six months.
“Just to make absolutely clear — the measures would remain suspended, but if we need them at any point in the future, they can be unsuspended,” Gill said.
