by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - As Myanmar’s Tatmadaw military junta continues its deadly rampage against opponents and non-Buddhists, Christians in the country’s central regions are being terrorized as the army systematically destroys hundreds of their homes, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Quoting local sources in its June 6 report, ICC said that at least 320 out of around 350 homes were burned down by the military in an attack on the Catholic village of Chaung Yoe in the Sagaing region on May 20. “Soldiers keep raiding villages and destroying homes as part of a strategy to crush PDFs in the region,” ICC said.
“They torched hundreds of homes in Kinn, Upper Kinn and Ke Taung villages during a three-day raid last week,” ICC added.
The Tatmadaw has focussed on attacking Christian villages in the Sagaing region, in response to growing resistance to military rule by people’s defense forces (PDFs), ICC said. Drone footage shows artillery shelling, airstrikes, and burning homes in several villages.
As people flee for their lives from the destructive armed forces, Myanmar now has over one million displaced people, including almost 700,000 people displaced following the military coup of 1 February 2021.
Myanmar ranks 12th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.