Locals have nicknamed a junta column operating in and around Kyaukgu Village in Lawksawk (Yatsauk) Township, southern Shan State the ‘thieves column’ because they have ransacked so many empty homes.

The column started operating in the area on 18 January 2025 after most locals had fled the area due to fighting. According to locals, soldiers in the column ransacked abandoned homes and shops and took the stolen goods to the Artillery Battalion 349 base in Kyaukgu Town, also in Lawksawk Township.

A Kyaukgu resident said to SHAN: “They ransacked empty houses and shops at will, taking whatever they wanted. Anything they couldn’t carry, they destroyed. They are nothing short of thieves, looting many homes. That’s why people called them the ‘thieves column’.”

Fierce fighting between the junta and the Danu People’s Liberation Front (DPLF) since late 2024 in the area of Kyaukgu Village prompted many people living there to flee.

On 16 January 2025, a heavy junta airstrike dropped 56 bombs on the area, killing three residents who had stayed behind to guard their homes and injuring a further 10. Following the airstrike most of the remaining civilians in the area fled.

Afterwards, when the place became deserted the junta column took advantage of that situation and began looting and ransacking houses.

A woman who was displaced from Kyaukgu Village said: “A man who returned to Kyaukgu Village to assess the situation said that nearly all the houses in the village had been ransacked, with nothing valuable left behind. We thought about going back to our house in the village to check on things. I don’t think the soldiers will return—there’s nothing left for them to steal.”

Displaced residents are now considering returning because fighting in the area of Kyaukgu Village is dying down and the junta soldiers are unlikely to return, as they have already ransacked all the homes and taken anything of value.

The area around Kyaukgu Village is strategically important as it is located between Taunggyi in southern Shan State and Nawnghkio in northern Shan State. It is home to several armed organisations, including the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO), and the DPLF, which was established after the coup.

Fighting started in the area after the DLF found out that junta columns were gathering together there, possibly because they were preparing to move onto the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) controlled town of Nawnghkio about 50 km away, where there has been ongoing heavy fighting for the last few months.