Brutal Ogre Column Unleashes Terror in Sagaing Region
By Ah Mee/Network Media Group
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Military Council soldiers of the Bheluu column have gained notoriety for their acts of wanton violence, primarily targeting civilians in Sagaing Region. The column has become infamous for its frequent rape of women, as well as the killing and torture of both men and women, leaving behind a trail of gruesome beheadings and dismemberments in its wake.
“This Bheluu military column is responsible for more killing and raping than fighting against resistance groups in Sagaing Region,” said Ko Nwe Oo from the Civil Defense and Security of Myaung (CDSOM).
Although the column has been active in the Sagaing area for some time, from the third week of August until 11 September, the Military Council has been using them to terrorize the population in Shwebo and Wetlet townships, as part of six other columns dispatched to ‘clear’ the area so the regime can send in workers to repair the Mandalay–Shwebo–Myitkyina railway.
According to the Wetlet People’s Defence Force (PDF) and civilians helping them in Wetlet Township, the Military Column sent the Bheluu column and columns from the Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 708, 701, 469, 364, 12, and the No-8 Military Training School from Shwebo to the township from three directions.
War Crimes
After encountering the ogre column, those who survived the ordeal will never forget the cruelty and savagery they unleashed on civilians.
Ko Naing Gyi, the head of the information department for the PDF, stated that everyone attempts to flee before the Bheluu military column arrives in their village. The soldiers will kill anyone they come across, regardless of whether they are PDF members. He mentioned that the soldiers brutally torture the men before killing them, and notably, they don’t burn people’s homes—“They only kill people!”
He said they have evidence of recent slaughters by the Bheluu column in Sagaing Region. They murdered five people in Htan Taw Seik in Sagaing Township on 21 August and “chopped up their bodies, hanging their heads in one place and legs and hands in other areas”.
Six days later, the column killed two villagers in Kyikan Taung and four people from the same family in Kyikan Myauk. “They also raped two women before killing them in Kyikan Myauk. They shoved a soft drink bottle into their vaginas and killed them,” Ko Naing Gyi said. The soldiers killed them by slitting their throats, he explained.
Lt Sin Yai, the late deputy battalion commander of the No-1 battalion of the Sagaing District PDF, was the first person to be beheaded by the Bheluu troops in Myaung Township on 30 March. Ko Nwe Oo said they used a drone to record the group cutting off his head with a knife.
“The Bheluu column arrests men and cuts off their legs, hands, stomach, genitals, throat and head. After decapitating them, they hang the head somewhere. Sometimes they also put the severed genitals in their mouths,” he explained.
On 25 February, the column chopped PDF soldier Ko Maw Kun to pieces after a night raid on Padattai in northern Myinmu Township.
The next day, the soldiers beheaded Ko Hla Min Sein (15), also called Hpoe Sein; Hpoe Ke, (17); Ko Myo Zin and Ko Zaw Myo Thant (both 19) after raiding Kan Taw in the same township. A couple of days after that, they murdered 17 villagers in Tar Tai. On 5 March, they killed 4 villagers in Letkapin and the Buddhist abbot U Aggawonsa (also named Sayardaw Agga Wuntha).
In August, the column abducted a cowboy in Myaung Township and tied his hands behind his back before slicing open his stomach and beheading him.
Who are the Bheluu column?
According to Burmese folklore, Bheluu is a powerful and violent ogre.
The column dispatched to Sagaing Region—a hotbed of resistance—was carefully selected with soldiers from different army divisions, including LID 99, 77, 33 and 709, according to sources from the resistance forces.
The column began to gather national attention after a video went viral showing soldiers at Mon Taing Pin Monastery bragging about the number of throats they had slit. It is suspected that these soldiers and others from their group are responsible for the murder of 29 civilians in Mon Taing Pin and In Pin, Ye-U Township, according to several reports by Radio Free Asia (RFA) released a month and a year after the May 2022 massacre. RFA also reported that the numbers on their guns in some of the photos recovered from the lost phone, which also contained a 10 and a half-minute video, indicated the weapons were issued for the 4th Company of LID 708, a unit belonging to the Yangon-based Military Operation Command (MOC) No.4 situated between Hmawbi and Taik Gyi in the Yangon Region.
Nat Thar, a former military captain who defected to the resistance sometime after the coup, told RFA their sadomasochistic tactics are part of a strategy the military rulers devised locally known as “Sit Oo Bi Lu (same as Bheluu)” the “First Wave of Brutal Attack” or “Yakkha (the ogre’s name) Byu Har”, all of which relates to their strategy using the ogre column.
Ko Nwe Oo said that the Bheluu column behaves differently on the battlefield than other columns from the Burma army.
“They look like ogres, monsters or giant creatures. They act very violently and brutally. Even when we are shooting them, they keep trying to rush forward until they fall down on the ground. I think they are using some illicit drugs while they are patrolling.” When other columns suffer many casualties, the Military Council sends in air support, but there are no jet fighters or airships sent to help them, he said.
“They do not care about their lives; it seems that they will continue to fight until they die,” he said.
He said when the ogre column entered Wetlet Township, there were 100 soldiers, and by the last week of August, there were only 60.
Once they have intelligence that the column has entered their territory, Ko Naing Gyi said they immediately relocate any civilians from the area. The villagers are terrified of them and for good reason.
“They have killed more civilians than PDF soldiers,” he said.
An anonymous male volunteer helping civilians affected by the war in Ye-U Township said they often launch surprise raids on villages, making it difficult for civilians to escape. “The Bheluu column is not active during the day. They start their movement at night and in the early morning when civilians and members of the PDF are resting.” If villagers manage to get away before they arrive, he said, they must keep at least a 10-mile distance between them to be sure they won’t be targeted during a surprise raid on their encampment.
The Military Council has claimed the column is protecting the people, but everyone knows the ugly truth about the group and the things they have done, which have been well documented. The more human rights abuses their soldiers commit, the more the people despise them.
According to Ko Nwe Oo, the Military Council has employed the Bheluu column to carry out its malevolent deeds. They have dispatched small groups of soldiers to commit mass killings, hoping to evade the attention of the international community, which has been preoccupied with conflicts in other regions of the world.
“They want to avoid pressure from the international community, which is why they created the column. If the international community accuses the Military Council of committing mass murder, they will deny it. They know that if they are found guilty, action will be taken according to the Geneva Convention and international law.” He said this is why the column hasn’t received a designated name like the rest of the country’s armed forces.
The exiled National Unity Government (NUG) stated that the Burma army has committed serious human rights abuses, including mass killings, burning civilian houses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity with impunity. Therefore, the international community needs to take effective action against it and the armed forces.
On the second anniversary of the people’s resistance movement, NUG’s acting president, Duwa Lashi La, delivered a public speech urging the international community to maintain sanctions on the Military Council while providing humanitarian aid to the people in Burma. He said the world needs to demonstrate its rejection of the military dictators.
According to NUG, the Burma army killed 4,023 civilians across the country between February 2021 and August 2023. It has conducted over 1,400 airstrikes, not including shelling from its camps. Many of the bombings from jet fighters and airships have targeted people’s houses and religious buildings in villages and the countryside in areas controlled by resistance movements.
Despite the massacres by the Bheluu column across Sagaing Region, the Military Council has purposely neglected mentioning anything about these atrocities conducted by its soldiers on any of its official print and television mouthpieces.
The column’s primary mission is simple—to terrorize the population into submission, explained a volunteer helping war-stricken civilians in Myaung Township.
“People believe that they will be killed or tortured if the soldiers find them.”
