Nearly 4,000 houses destroyed last month in junta arson attacks

By Admin 03 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
3 May, 2024, Sittwe

A total of 3,960 houses were destroyed across Myanmar in junta arson attacks last month and Arakan State was hit hardest, Data for Myanmar said in a report on Friday.

According to Data for Myanmar’s estimates, 1,500 houses were destroyed in Arakan State’s Buthidaung, 1,220 in Mandalay Region, 997 in Sagaing Region and 229 in Magwe Region. Buthidaung town was left almost empty as residents fled fighting between junta troops and the Arakkha Army (AA) in the township. Junta soldiers and Muslim conscripts are accused of torching hundreds of empty houses in Buthidaung town.

A woman from Buthidaung town who fled the fighting said she had lost her home in the arson spree.

“My house was destroyed in an arson attack. I have no home to live in, even if I can return to the town after the fighting. For now, I am away from Buthidaung, fleeing the fighting,” she said.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its office and pharmacy in Buthidaung town were torched on April 15. Medicines, medical equipment and office equipment were lost in the fire, which also burned down several houses in the neighbourhood, MSF said.

The regime is blatantly committing war crimes and violating human rights by deliberately torching private property, according to observers.

“The regime will routinely arrest and kill innocent civilians, and torches houses when it loses a battle. This is a human rights violation and reflects the wicked mind of the regime,” said one politician.

A total of 88,373 private houses were destroyed by junta arson attacks in the three-plus years from the coup on February 1, 2021, to April of this year, according to Data for Myanmar.