Junta destroys two village roads creating problems in 15 villages in Bilin

October 26, 2023

HURFOM: On October 23, 2023, the 8th and 9th Light Infantry Battalions and the 314th Artillery Battalion destroyed two roads connecting the Dough Yat, Khae Mount and Shwe Yaung Pya villages in Bilin Township, Mon State.

About 100 junta troops destroyed connecting village roads by digging a long deep trench along the roadway. The trench is 15 ft in length, 6 ft in width and 6 ft in depth.

“Those two roads connected Bilin and villages. The roads were tarred by the previous government. Now about 15 villages are in trouble. They rely on these roads. Destroying public roads is unacceptable,” said a Khae Mount resident.

While destroying the roads, the junta clashed with the joint forces of the Karen National Liberation Army. The junta launched artillery attacks and destroyed a house in Khae Mount village and injured two cows.

The military junta already destroyed as many as eight village roads in Kyike Hto, Bilin and Thaton Townships controlled by the Thaton District Karen National Union.

The United Nations has noted the military junta is practicing what is known as a “four cut policy”. This includes, indiscriminate air strikes and artillery attacks, razing villages to displace populations, denial of humanitarian assistance to cut off non-state organized armed groups and other anti-military armed elements from access to food, finances, intelligence and new recruits.

The previous military dictatorship in Myanmar used this policy in the 1960’s against the Karen peoples and in 2017 it was again deployed in Rakhine. The strategy creates a perpetual human rights crisis.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News