Independent media reports prove that junta claims that its soldiers did not arrest or kill any villagers in Budalin Township, Sagaing Region are false.
The junta’s denial that it had abducted or killed any Budalin Township villagers was published in the junta-controlled Mirror newspaper and disseminated through the Ministry of Information (MoI) Telegram channel on 12 November 2024.
In contrast, independent media outlets reported that junta troops operating in Budalin Township were abducting and killing local villagers, according to investigations by Than Lwin Times.
A 10 November report by Mandalay Free Press (MFP) on Facebook refuted the junta’s claims and had pictures of murdered villagers and burnt out houses.
According to the MFP report, the bodies of two locals, abducted during a raid by junta troops on Thahpan Village in Budalin Township, were found.
The report said that junta soldiers began raiding Thahpan Village, a settlement of around 260 houses in the eastern part of Budalin Township, on 5 November.
They then started arresting and executing villagers, whom they accused of collaborating with revolutionary forces.
The soldiers remained stationed in the village for three days ransacking, looting and committing acts of vandalism. Before they departed on 7 November, they set fire to the village and let it burn for over an hour before leaving.
After the soldiers left the villagers returned. They managed to extinguish the remaining fires. 37 houses were burned down, but they managed to save the rest of the village. Whilst they were clearing up they found the bodies of two villagers who had been executed by the junta soldiers.
Thahpan villagers who spoke with MFP said that on 8 November they found the body of U San Lwin, aged 70, at the entrance of the village. He had been abducted by the junta soldiers after they entered the village.
Then, on 9 November, they discovered another body dumped between Thahpan and the nearby village of Thapyaypin. It was U Toe Toe Min, aged 50, another resident of Thahpan Village who had been abducted by the junta troops.
According to the MFP report a local source said: "After being arrested, the victims were executed on the spot, and they were bound with wire. The bodies were already decomposing."
According to a 9 November report by Mizzima the junta column of about 120 men that occupied Thahpan Village has been abducting villagers and holding them hostage as it moves around Budalin Township. Currently they have about 20 hostages that they take with them wherever they go.
