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Military withholds bodies of two tortured, slain Muslim civilians from relatives in Sagaing Region

March 28, 2023/in News

Junta troops threw the young detainees’ remains into the Mu River river after denying requests from the victims’ families to retrieve them for a proper burial The military refused to return the bodies of a 28-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy killed in junta custody to their bereaved relatives in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, this […]

Myanmar army column kills several elderly civilians in assault on Sagaing Region village

March 28, 2023/in News

Seven people who were unable to flee due to their advanced age and disabilities are found dead in their torched houses after a three-hour siege by junta troops in Budalin Township A 50-soldier junta column killed seven civilians—most of whom were elderly and had disabilities—in an arson attack on a village in Sagaing Region’s Budalin […]

Military withholds bodies of two tortured, slain Muslim civilians from relatives in Sagaing Region

March 28, 2023/in News

Myanmar army column kills several elderly civilians in assault on Sagaing Region village

March 28, 2023/in News

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Military withholds bodies of two tortured, slain Muslim civilians from relatives in Sagaing Region

March 28, 2023/in News

Junta troops threw the young detainees’ remains into the Mu River river after denying requests from the victims’ families to retrieve them for a proper burial

The military refused to return the bodies of a 28-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy killed in junta custody to their bereaved relatives in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, this week.

The bodies of Thet Paing Soe, the elder victim, and Chit Min Naing, a minor, were found in a nearby drainage ditch on Friday with injuries suggesting torture. They had been detained and interrogated along with six other civilians in the town of Zee Kone two weeks earlier.

Soldiers stationed at the town’s sugar mill—accompanied by local police—arrested the eight civilians between March 8 and 9, after a woman who was allegedly working for the military as an informant was shot dead in the municipal market on March 6 by unknown assailants.

Another woman, who had been working at the market at the time, claimed she did not know who had shot the woman or for what reasons.

The detainees—including vendors and other locals—were held at the sugar mill. One was released on March 10 and five others were released on March 16.

“The bodies [of Thet Paing Soe and Chit Min Naing] were found in the U Aung Zay Ya ditch, stuck at the water gates just outside Zee Kone,” a local man told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity. “They were already badly disfigured when we found them.”

Citing eyewitnesses, he said that Thet Paing Soe had what appeared to be knife wounds to his chest and deep cuts all over his body. The body of Chit Min Naing had similar cuts, and his face showed signs—including bulging eyes and a protruding tongue—which suggested that he had been hanged.

They estimated that the victims had been dead for at least five days at the time they were found.

Thet Paing Soe had been arrested on March 8 along with one other man, who, like him, was a member of Zee Kone’s large Muslim community. After five more people, including Chit Min Naing’s mother—also a Muslim—were arrested on March 9, Chit Min Naing had gone to the police on March 10 to surrender himself to the officers in an attempt to secure her release.

“The military took his mother when he wasn’t home, so he turned himself in the next day in exchange for her release. Five vendors, including his mother, were released soon afterwards but they were already physically and mentally traumatised. The mother is losing her mind now after her son’s death,” the local man said.

Thet Paing Soe ran a mobile phone repair shop near the market where the alleged military informant was killed, and Chit Min Naing had worked for him there. However, neither had any known connections to the death of the alleged informant.

“Both of them were just civilians and they hadn’t done anything suspicious. They simply worked in a phone shop and were killed for no reason at all,” the local man said.

A source close to the victims’ families said the military refused their request to retrieve the bodies from the ditch for a proper Muslim burial, instead throwing them in the Mu River.

Thet Paing Soe, the owner of the phone shop, had gotten married 10 months earlier and is survived by his wife, who is five months pregnant with their child.

The local man who spoke with Myanmar Now—also a Muslim resident of Zee Kone—said that he had begun to feel a deep hatred towards the military council, which had not only killed two innocent civilians but even refused to return the victims’ bodies to their families.

“It’s so insulting that they invalidated their existence and religion even in death. I’d understand if they’d been killed during interrogation. But this was purely an execution and it breaks my heart to see the families deprived of the right to give their loved ones a proper funeral,” he said.

According to friends of the victims’ families, the military had also forbidden them from holding vigils, inviting neighbours to their houses to mourn, or even publicly praying.

“It’s really scary for us because we’re a minority here, especially during the first days of Ramadan,” the local man added, referring to the holy month which began on the evening of March 22. “Almost all of the past violence [against Muslims] took place during this month, so everyone is on edge these days.”

After the military disposed of the victims’ bodies in the Mu River, they were found downstream in Khin-U Township on Saturday. A group of local youth gave them a burial on the shore.

Detainees of the junta have been subjected to extrajudicial killings by the military and their allies in the neighbouring Mandalay Region in recent months, including in Natogyi, Madaya, and Myingyan townships late last year.

Myanmar Now attempted to contact the military council’s information department regarding the arrest and killing of the two youths but received no response.

Myanmar Now News

Myanmar army column kills several elderly civilians in assault on Sagaing Region village

March 28, 2023/in News

Seven people who were unable to flee due to their advanced age and disabilities are found dead in their torched houses after a three-hour siege by junta troops in Budalin Township

A 50-soldier junta column killed seven civilians—most of whom were elderly and had disabilities—in an arson attack on a village in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township over the weekend, according to local sources.

The military unit raided Son Kone, five miles south of Budalin town, at 8am on March 25, burning around 180 of the village’s 300 homes during a three-hour assault. While most of the residents fled, a few stayed behind, unable to run. They were later found dead in their torched houses, survivors said.

“The military came unannounced and we couldn’t save anyone but ourselves,” a local man told Myanmar Now. “We tried to save some, but everything was in chaos as it happened early in the morning.”

Among the victims identified by two Son Kone villagers were four 80-year-olds: one man, Kyi Myint, also known as Japan Gyi, and three women—Khwe Ma, Khin Myint and Tin Ei. Two more 75-year-old women were among the casualties, Daw Pyae and Kyi Aung, as well as 50-year-old San Myint.

“They deliberately started the fires and the northern wind caused them to spread. Only the newly built houses in the extended area of the village were spared,” another man from the community said. “The bodies were found inside the remains of the houses that were torched. They were covered with debris from the houses falling apart.”

Myanmar Now has not been able to speak with the relatives of the deceased.

More than 20 cattle that belonged to villagers in Son Kone were also found to have been killed in the fires.

The troops who carried out the attack were identified by eyewitnesses as belonging to Light Infantry Division 11, based in Yangon’s Htauk Kyant Township, but stationed in the headquarters of the Northwestern Military Command in the city of Monywa, 20 miles south of Son Kone. They reportedly departed the command base on March 24, heading towards Budalin, and were ambushed with explosive devices planted by local resistance teams outside of Son Kone before the raid the next day.

The soldiers left Son Kone at around 11am, splitting into two columns and heading towards Depayin Township, according to locals, who cited scouts from resistance forces in the area.

In February, the military declared martial law in 40 townships nationwide, 14 of which are in Sagaing Region. Budalin was not among them.

The junta has not released any information on its activities in the township.

Myanmar Now News

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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