Myanmar’s Army Escalates Attacks on a Struggling Resistance

The Myanmar soldiers attacked the village of Yay Shin, deep in the furrows of the Himalayan foothills, just after dusk, descending with flamethrowers and heavy weaponry.

Clutching aging AK-47s smuggled from India and Thailand, members of a self-proclaimed People’s Defense Force returned fire so the rest of the villagers could scramble into the hills, several residents said by phone.

Eight bodies of villagers were later found, along with those of eight soldiers who were killed in battle. By the time the 77th and 99th Battalions left Yay Shin this month, little of the village in northwestern Myanmar remained, just smoldering ruins of a hamlet that had dared to take up arms against the military’s February coup.

Seven months after ousting Myanmar’s elected government, the country’s fearsome army, known as the Tatmadaw, is ramping up attacks on a largely improvised armed resistance,…