Soldiers Trap Villagers in Their Homes in Launglon Township
A column of about 80 junta soldiers has confined about 40 to 50 villagers, including many elderly people, to their homes, in Kanyonkyun Village in Launglon Township, in Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei District.
In recent months there had been fighting between the junta and resistance forces at the Letkattaung military base near Launglon Town. Following the fighting, the junta dispatched a column of about 80 soldiers from the Tanintharyi Region capital, Dawei City, to Launglon Township.
Then, on 14 June 2025, the junta column started moving through the villages south of Launglon Town, including Sitpyea Village. The column is now stationed in Kanyonkyun Village with the soldiers staying in locals homes and the monastery there.
The soldiers have also ordered about 40 to 50 villagers Kanyonkyun Village not to leave their homes. Many of them are elderly residents who had stayed in the village because they were unable to evacuate in time, according to a Launglon Town resident who closely monitors the junta’s activity in the region.
He said to KIC: “The soldiers are mostly staying in some houses and the monastery. They’ve trapped the 40 to 50 people who were left behind in the village and aren’t letting them go outside. Most of those people are elderly. The soldiers have told them not to leave their homes at all.”
The rest of the villagers had hurriedly fled just moments before the junta soldiers turned up in Kanyonkyun Village, but the elderly and those with health conditions were unable to evacuate in time.
Residents from other nearby villages that the military column previously passed through on its way from Launglon Town, including Sitpyea Village, have also fled their homes. None of those who fled have yet dared to return because of the junta soldiers in the area.
The junta is also sending more soldiers to Kanyonkyun Village by river, according to a Launglon Township[p resistance force source.
Previously, on 20 May 2025, junta soldiers arrested travellers, residents, and orchard workers on the road between Launglon Town and Sanhlan Village in Launglon Township and detained them at the Letkattaung military base, according to local Tanintharyi Region news agencies.
