Burma: a village destroyed by flames during a military intervention
A resident walks past smoking houses in the village of Kinma burnt down by junta troops in central Burma on June 16, 2021. AP
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3 min
In Burma, there is nothing to indicate that calm has returned since the army putsch on February 1.
Witness the fire which completely devastated a small village in the Magway region in the center of the country, after a military intervention.
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A thick column of black smoke rises over the village of Kinma.
In the photos published in the local press and social networks, we see a field of ruins covered in ash, pieces of tin on the ground and charred trees.
Of the 250 houses, only about twenty remain standing, blackened by the flames.
A thousand inhabitants have found refuge in neighboring towns or in the forest.
A couple of old people perished in the fire.
The army accuses forty "terrorists" of having set fire to the house of a junta sympathizer.
The wind then spread the fire.
But villagers tell a whole different story.
On Tuesday, soldiers reportedly stormed into Kinma, looking for fighters from a local self-defense force, a witness told AFP.
As residents fled, the soldiers reportedly fired a rocket launcher at the village.
The daily
Irrawaddy
reports that soldiers then opened fire on villagers who were trying to rescue personal belongings as best they could.
At least one man was reportedly injured.
The repression does not spare even the small villages lost in the rainforest.
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See also: In Burma, the humanitarian situation is worsening while the economy remains paralyzed
The
events
are always daily throughout the country, plunging Burma every day a little more into chaos and civil war, with fighting between the rebels and ethnic factions army and the economy is completely paralyzed by strikes massive.
The protest movement is bloodily suppressed by the security forces who have killed more than 860 civilians in recent months, including women and children, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP).
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To read also: Burma: opening of the first trial of Aung San Suu Kyi
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