Three villagers still missing in wake of junta raid in Ponnagyun Twsp

By DMG 16 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
16 November 2022, Ponnagyun 

Three elderly male residents of Kyaw Zan Village, Ponnagyun Township, who went missing while fleeing a junta raid on their village on November 12 have not yet been found, according to relatives. 

The three are U Oo Sein Tun, 63; U Oo Saw Thein, 53; and U Me Hla Aung, 65. 

“We got separated when villagers fled drone attacks on the village. I thought he fled to one of the villages where we have relatives. However, he reached none of those villages, and my father’s phone was also turned off,” Ko Maung Maung Khin, the son of U Oo Sein Tun, told DMG. 

Locals said there were eyewitnesses who saw U Me Hla Aung being arrested by junta troops. DMG could not independently verify their reports. 

“My father-in-law ran out of the village together with other villagers,” said Ko Aung Paing, the son-in-law of U Oo Saw Thein. “He returned to the village amid the drone attack. I don’t know why he went back. He has been missing since then. Family members are concerned about him. We hope he is still alive.”  

Locals have searched for the three men in the surrounding forests and mountains, but there has been no trace of them so far, said Ko Maung Maung Khin. 

“If they were arrested by the Myanmar military, we hope they will be released alive. We are still searching for them, hoping that if they were killed, their bodies at least will be found,” he said. 

DMG was unable to contact junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun to ask if the three men were detained by junta soldiers. 

Following the junta raid on November 12, Kyaw Zan villagers fled to Ponnagyun town, as well as neighbouring Pauktaw and Kyauktaw townships. Some 5,000 residents from several villages in Ponnagyun Township have recently fled their homes due to junta raids and artillery strikes.