Soldiers forced Internally displaced people (IDPs) to return to their homes from an IDP camp to the west of Than Pho village on the Kale-Gangaw road, in Kale Township, Sagaing Division.

They said that any IDPs who had not returned home within four days would be arrested and executed for being People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) insurgents.

The IDP camp was repeatedly attacked by the junta troops with heavy artillery fire and set on fire, on 24 February. Similarly, two houses and a rice mill in Than Pho village were set on fire by the junta on 23 February.

“12 houses in Yan Gyi Aung village and two houses and a rice mill in Than Pho village were set on fire. Villagers were able to put out the fire from the rice mill when the military council troops left. They also set fire to 18 motorcycles and two Honda generators in the IDP camp", said an officer from Than Pho IDP camp.

After the military council set fire to a house in the village last December 2021, locals set up tents at the foot of the Chin Hills, about four miles from Than Pho village. They gathered food in advance and lived in the Than Pho camp as IDPs.

"No one dared to stay in the village because the army frequently kept firing at it with heavy artillery shells. They also took away all the good things in the village. Therefore, we set up tents at the IDP camp. Now the IDP camps are being set on fire and they have twice confiscated all the rice that we have collected with two military trucks,” said a resident of Than Pho refugee camp.

Currently, most Than Pho villagers have fled to Kale township and only a few are left in the IDP camp. Than Pho and Yan Gyi Aung villages are contiguous villages with more than 800 houses.