Army battalion threatens villagers by shooting

February 26, 2009

HURFOM :In the third week of February a battalion of the Burmese army shot their weapons in two villages, took some of the villagers’ property and forced thirty three people in another village to work for them as porters.
On the 20th February Light Infantry Battalion No 562 entered Saw Wa Tee and Yaw Toe Pa villages and began shooting. Fortunately there were no injuries but the soldiers took one solar panel, two radios and 29,000 Kyat from the villages in Htan-Ta Bin Township, Taung Gue district, Pegu Division. The populations of both villages had to flee and hide in the forest and did not to go back their homes.

According to one of the villagers who lives in Saw Wa Tee, “we were so afraid and do not want to go back again.”

Saw Wa Tee and Yaw Toe Pa villages are refugee camps which are based in the Karen National Union (KNU) controlled area.

Battalion No. 562, which is based in Taung Gue and led by Tactical commander Nyi Nyi Hla, also entered Ein Pu village in Htan-Ta Bin Township on the same day, 20th February and took thirty three villagers, forcing them to work as porters and carry the soldiers’ food and ammunition.

One of the villagers in Ein Pu said, “those thirty three people had to carry things for the soldiers which weighed around 30 kilograms. They had to walk nearly three miles and then had to walk up a mountain. We do not yet know what will happen to them.”

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News