A village in central Burma was almost completely destroyed by flames after the military intervened, residents told AFP on Wednesday, while the army blamed "
terrorists
"
for the blaze.
.
Read also: The shadow of Aung San Suu Kyi above a shifting Burmese political landscape
The country has been plunged into chaos since the February 1 coup and the brutal repression carried out by the Burmese army against demonstrations calling for the return of democracy. Clashes erupted in many parts of Burma, where civilians formed "
self-defense
" forces to oppose the junta. Junta troops stormed into the village of Kin Ma in central Magway region on Tuesday in search of members of a local self-defense force, a resident told AFP. 48-year-old man who wished to remain anonymous. “
As people were running, they (the military) fired at the village with a rocket launcher. And then we saw the flames coming out of the houses in the village,
”he said.
"
We didn't think they would destroy everything, so we ran without taking our things and left everything at home
." "
There were 250 houses in the village, now there are only about 20 left,
" another villager told AFP, adding that an elderly couple who had not been able to flee had been killed in the fire. "
My house was also reduced to ashes ... all that remains is the metal structure,
" he added. Images published by local media showed plumes of smoke rising into the sky and the remains of charred homes. Local media also reported that an elderly couple died in the blaze.
Authorities say the blaze started after "
40 armed terrorists
" set fire to the house of a local member of a pro-army party, prompting the deployment of soldiers there.
"
Because of the wind, the fire spread to neighboring houses and about 70% of the village was burned down,
" the junta's press service said in a statement.
Almost daily demonstrations, economy paralyzed by massive strikes, resurgence of clashes between the army and rebel ethnic factions: Burma has been in turmoil since the putsch which ended a democratic parenthesis of 10 years.
To read also: UN: the Burmese ambassador wants "effective measures", meeting Friday of the Security Council
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). The head of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, justified his seizure of power due to alleged fraud in the legislative elections of November 2020, won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy.