The Burmese Army in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP) warned TPP residents living in Quarter 4, or Taung Wine quarter, to relocate to the center of TPP town yesterday.
Recalling the announcement of Burmese Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 284, warning residents to finish their work quickly, a worker commented that, “Yesterday, at noon, they came to us and told us to hurry up finishing our work and move away from here.” The LIB No-284 will transfer from Three Pagodas Pass and the LIB No. 566 will take responsibility for the area in the place of the LIB No. 284.
LIB No. 566 arrived in the Three Pagodas Pass area three days ago to provide extra reinforcements for the Burmese troops.
The orders for relocation from Taung Wine quarter and U Daung Kan Lake came from an inability by the Burmese Army to secure those areas. The Burmese Army has provided security in TPP town. Residents from these two areas are now forced to move in with relatives or friends inside Three Pagodas Pass, or even to temporarily stay on the Thai side of the border.
“Nobody is there [in Taung Wine and U Daung Kan Lake] because the Burmese army has opened a front line for battle there” said a resident from Taung Wine. He already moved from his home in Taung Wine to TPP town.
The situation is increasingly unstable, and because of this, “the students were released from school after only a half day yesterday, with the reason being a bad situation [insecurity]. Today, students didn’t go to school even though the schools are not closed” said a parent living in Quarter 2.
Most commodity shops in TPP have closed since the RPG attack on Aung Tin Win’s shop on June 14th by an armed group. The armed group enter TPP town with four vehicles by way of Taung Wine Quarter and bombed one of the vehicles before leaving the area.
