Fearing attacks by the Burma Army (BA), villagers are calling on the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) to leave their villages in Sagaing Region where they have been staying since July.

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“The PDF soldiers are fighting the BA from inside the villages. Whenever the fighting starts, we’re the ones who suffer. That’s why we do not want any armed organisations in our village,” a 20-year-old Shanni youth told SHAN on condition of anonymity.

He explained that the PDF had remained in Mang Inmangkyi Kon, Mang Tun and Kyaung Le Sanpya since they and the Kachin Independence Army fought regime troops in July in Bamauk Township, where the villages are located.

Villager Sai Hla Kyaw told SHAN that he wants the PDF soldiers to wear their uniforms instead of regular clothes when they stay with civilians so they know who is who.

In late October, the BA killed a civilian in an airstrike on a hospital, clinic and another building in Kyaung Le Sanpya where PDF fighters were reportedly sleeping. A villager was also killed in Mang Yugyi when jet fighters attacked a clinic in the village on 20 October after PDF troops attacked BA in the area.