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Myanmar: Christian villagers flee as military escalates attacks

July 19, 2022

Christians make up about 8.2 percent of the population of Myanmar. The overwhelming majority of these are Protestants, with Roman Catholics comprising most of the rest; there is, however, a small community of Armenian Orthodox Christians.

For more ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Myanmar, see here.

“Catholic villagers flee as Myanmar military escalates attacks,” UCA News, July 18, 2022:

Thousands of people from a historic Catholic village in conflict-torn Myanmar have been forced to flee their homes as the military ramps up air strikes and artillery shelling.

When people learned about the military raid on a nearby village on July 17, almost all the inhabitants of Monhla village in the central Sagaing region fled into the nearby jungle and other safe areas.

While some villagers used motorcycles and small trucks, others including the elderly and children fled on bullock-drawn carts, according to local sources.

Priests and nuns were among the thousands of people who fled the village.

Sources said three helicopters flew over several villages including Monhla early on July 18.

“We had to hide in the trees as we heard the junta’s air strikes,” says one villager.

The number of casualties and damage to civilian homes in the Catholic village remain unknown.

Villagers in the area have repeatedly fled their homes for fear of being attacked by junta troops in recent months.

The latest attack came six weeks after more than 500 homes in another old Catholic village, Chan Thar, were set ablaze by junta troops on June 7.

At least 320 out of 350 houses were also burned down at Chaung Yoe village during a raid on May 20.

The military regime is specifically targeting three historic Catholic villages in the Buddhist Bamar heartland of Sagaing in a bid to stamp out growing resistance by people’s defense forces….