NAYPYITAW, 10 September 2021, (TON): Around 5,000 people from 15 villages in Pauk Township, Magway Region, fled their homes out of fears of military assaults following the National Unity Government’s declaration of war against the junta.

While there have been no clashes in recent days between the military and local resistance forces in Pauk Township, in mid-June junta troops burned down nearly all of the homes in one of the 15 villages in question, Kinma. Some 1,000 residents from the village have been displaced ever since.

In an official statement released days later, the military council blamed the burning of Kinma, which killed an elderly couple, on “terrorists who wanted donations” and condemned the media for spreading “false news” about the event.

A member of a Pauk-based resistance force told Myanmar Now that the residents of the township had been traumatised after the military terrorised Kinma and Wun Chone and were trying to avoid experiencing that again.

“Some have already brought their stuff into the forests and some are already spending the night there. The villages are all essentially empty now,” the guerrilla group member said, estimating that one-third of the area’s total population of 15,000 was in hiding.

He told media “They are all prepared to run as soon as the military arrives. They’re all scared of getting robbed, so they’ve taken all their valuable items and clothes.”