Poppy McPherson, Wa Lone, and Poppy

(Reuters) –Rubbles and ashes are all that remains of the wooden and brick homes most of these people built in Bin, the Buddhist heartland in central Myanmar.

Bin was one of the more than 100 villages that were either partially or entirely destroyed by Myanmar’s military at the beginning of 2018. Its homes are among over 5,500 civilian structures that have been razed by troops trying to crush opposition to last years coup. According to Data For Myanmar, these reports include media reports and activist groups Data For Myanmar.

Reuters has reviewed dozens upon dozens of satellite photos from NASA and Planet Labs. They show the widespread burning of villages in the middle of the country. The images, which largely confirm local media reports, provide strong evidence that the military has used widespread arson in an effort to increase its attacks on resistance within the central Sagaing area, where residents told Reuters they have seen armed opposition.

According to Tom Andrews (UN special envoy on human rights in Myanmar), “It is a campaign for terror.” They consider you the enemy if you reside in an area that is supportive to those who have taken up arms.

Andrews is based in America and told Reuters that he spoke by telephone with many witnesses as well as other individuals who provided him information about the ground. Andrews said that these individuals told him the military has increased its attacks on Sagaing in recent months with ground troops leading the assaults, and fighter jets conducting air strikes.

After overthrowing the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta declared all opposition illegal. The military claims it is trying to restore order to the country. For this story, the Myanmar military refused to respond to our requests. In the past months, the junta has been accusing opposition forces of torching villages without providing evidence.

According to BBC Burmese reports and the local media collected by Data For Myanmar, Reuters has seen that pro-military militias and military have set fire to central Myanmar villages almost daily since December. The location of the most severe fires is confirmed by satellite images from NASA. 

According to residents, large-scale displacements were caused by military strikes and arson. The United Nations reports that more than 52,000 persons fled their homes during the week ending February 23rd.

This is the first instance of this tactic in the once peaceful, largely Buddhist central heartland. In the area, there has been intense fighting for the past year between junta soldiers and people belonging to People’s Defence Forces (PDF) – the arm of the National Unity Governments (NUG), who was overthrown in the coup. The junta declared NUG and PDF illegal, and called them terrorists. 

Reuters interviewed 14 villagers in the Sagaing region about their experiences with soldiers setting fire to their homes. Reuters couldn’t confirm their stories in certain areas. However, they were consistent with satellite images seen and confirmed by Reuters.

“DESTROYED in a Second”

Seven residents spoke out to Reuters and said that Bin was set ablaze Jan. 31 by the military.

Reuters saw Bin captured by locals in the days that followed. These images and videos show villagers making their way across a burned area. Maung Zaw (41), a farmer of peanuts, said by telephone that they had lost all their possessions. “I will resist this military dictatorship until the end.”

Three individuals claimed they assisted in the evacuation of elderly friends and relatives from their houses as they were being torched. A man who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution from the military said that he covered himself in tomato plants and crawled to nearby fields to conceal his identity.

Planet Labs has shared a satellite photo dated February 7 with Reuters. It shows most of the village razed to the ground, and about 100 homes damaged. The village is still intact in a Nov. 27 photo. Reuters saw six photos and a video from residents taken with a drone. These images show the extent of the damage.

Although no one was reported to have been killed, the witnesses claimed that they had lost many of their homesteads and stores full of vegetables and animal food.

For fear of reprisal from the military, a Bin teacher said that he had built his house all his life.

Reuters couldn’t reach local authorities within the area to confirm Bin’s attack.

The burning of villages and displacement of inhabitants in areas such as Sagaing and Magway – where much of the country’s crops are produced – will disrupt sowing and harvesting, according to the Myanmar Food Security Cluster, a body coordinating the response of U.N. and aid organizations to food crises in the country. According to the Myanmar Food Security Cluster, a body that coordinates the response of U.N. and aid organizations to food crises in the country, “Reductions in production will cause a shortage in overall food supply” this week.

FAMILIAR ACTIC 

Seven other witnesses told Reuters that they saw the burning of three more villages in Sagaing in February. They were Ohn Hnae Bok and Hna Ma Sar Yit, respectively. On the date that the residents described, three NASA images as well as eight Planet Labs photos clearly show the fires taking place.

Hna Ma Sar Tiyt claimed that two soldiers killed two persons and three older people were burned to their graves in the home. Reuters was unable to independently confirm their claims. The military in Myanmar has blocked internet access to the Sagaing region. This makes it difficult for information verification. Requests for comment were not answered by the junta.

Burning villages is a decades-old tactic of the Myanmar military, several analysts told Reuters, used to deprive insurgencies of support. In 2017, hundreds of villages were destroyed by the army as hundreds of thousands fled the Rakhine region.

In a formal declaration, the United States stated that last month the Myanmar military committed genocide towards the Rohingya. United Nations claims that Myanmar’s troops engaged in a “genocidal” crackdown, which involved mass killings as well as arson and rape. Myanmar’s military stated that Rohingya had set fire to their own houses, but they didn’t have any evidence.

Anthony Davis, security analyst for the UK’s Janes defence intelligence firm, stated that the military was “attempting to crush or at minimum reduce to manageable levels” the resistance forces in Sagaing in the months before the monsoon season. 

Requests for comments were not answered by the junta.