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Myanmar junta forces commit more atrocities, burn 19 civilians to death

May 12, 2023/in News

The death toll could rise because the area is ‘now like a battlefield,’ ethnic armed group says. Myanmar troops burned alive 19 civilians, including eight minors, on Wednesday, relatives of the dead, witnesses and a spokesman for the shadow government said, in the latest atrocity committed by junta soldiers in the country’s civil war. The […]

School damaged, five resistance fighters killed in three separate military airstrikes

May 10, 2023/in News

No one was injured in the attack on a high school in Sagaing Region on Tuesday, but casualties were reported in similar incidents in Mon and Chin states earlier in the week The junta air force struck a high school operating under the publicly mandated National Unity Government in Sagaing Region, as well as resistance […]

Myanmar junta forces commit more atrocities, burn 19 civilians to death

May 12, 2023/in News

School damaged, five resistance fighters killed in three separate military airstrikes

May 10, 2023/in News

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Myanmar junta forces commit more atrocities, burn 19 civilians to death

May 12, 2023/in News

The death toll could rise because the area is ‘now like a battlefield,’ ethnic armed group says.

Myanmar troops burned alive 19 civilians, including eight minors, on Wednesday, relatives of the dead, witnesses and a spokesman for the shadow government said, in the latest atrocity committed by junta soldiers in the country’s civil war.

The attack came in the south-central Bago region, where junta troops were fighting ethnic Karen rebels and members of the People’s Defense Force, a loose group of ordinary people who have taken up arms since the February 2021 military coup.

The slaughter came hours after remote mine attacks by rebels. Junta forces arrested people living in Nyaung Pin Thar village in Htantabin township and burned them to death around 5 p.m. on May 10, residents said.

Five members of the same family, including a 6-year-old, were killed, said a relative.

“The military junta forces just killed them like that,” another villager said.

The initial count was 18 dead, but on Friday, the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, announced that another resident had been burned to death in Nyaung Pin Thar village of Htantabin township.

Junta forces are still near the village and the death toll could be higher because the area is now like a battlefield, the KNU’s statement said.

The junta’s military’s 44th Battalion and units of 73rd, 599, 590 and 48 Light Infantry Divisions are operating the region and fighting with the KNU and its affiliate armed groups, according to the statement.

Another atrocity

The shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, and witnesses told Radio Free Asia that the victims ranged in age from 5 to 70 years old.

“They killed a total of 18 innocent villagers, 10 women and eight men,” NUG spokesman Nay Phone Latt said, adding that most of the adults killed were over 50.

“This is yet another massacre committed by the military council,” he said, referring to the junta which has ruled Myanmar with an iron fist since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

The troops killed the villagers after a battle broke out between them and joint forces from the Karen National Liberation Army and the anti-junta People’s Defense Force near Nyaung Pin Thar village, said a local militia member.

“We detonated landmines about 15 times and about 30 junta soldiers were killed,” he said. “After that, the junta troops advanced to Nyaung Pin Thar village. More battles broke out there too.”

“We only found out last night, after the battles ended, that they had killed the villagers,” said a member of the local People’s Defense Force, a loose grouping of ordinary people who have taken up arms to fight the military. “We found the bodies only this morning.”

The 73rd and 36th infantry battalions based in Htantabin township raided other nearby villages including Nyaung Pin Thar and killed local villagers, he said.

He also said that during the battle, anti-regime forces killed about 20 junta soldiers and captured three officers.

RFA could not reach Bago region military junta spokesman Tin Oo or junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment.

Junta troops have conducted 64 mass killings across Myanmar between the Feb. 1, 2021 coup and mid-march 2023, resulting in the deaths of 766 people, according to the NUG’s Ministry of Human Rights.

RFA News

School damaged, five resistance fighters killed in three separate military airstrikes

May 10, 2023/in News

No one was injured in the attack on a high school in Sagaing Region on Tuesday, but casualties were reported in similar incidents in Mon and Chin states earlier in the week

The junta air force struck a high school operating under the publicly mandated National Unity Government in Sagaing Region, as well as resistance targets in Chin and Mon states this week.

A fighter jet attacked the high school in Htan Taw, a village located around a mile west of the administrative centre of Ye-U Township, on Tuesday afternoon.

Around 300 students are currently registered at the school, where classes are led by teachers participating in the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement. Having gone home after classes ended, around 30 minutes before the attack began, none of the schoolchildren were harmed.

The fighter jet, which reportedly flew in from Manadalay’s Tada-U airport, made three passes over the school, firing several volleys of bullets at the ground, local sources told Myanmar Now on Tuesday afternoon.

A member of a local defence team who saw the wreckage after the attack said the brick barrier around the school and the entrance gate received direct hits, while parts of the school building were also damaged.

“Two rounds hit the brick wall near the school entrance and knocked down a tree. The walls of the school were riddled with shrapnel and a haystack outside a house near the school caught fire,” said the defence team member.

Eight pieces of shrapnel were later found in and near the school compound.

Another military airstrike in Hakha Township, Chin State, resulted in two deaths and three injuries among members of the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) on Monday evening.

According to the CDF Senthang (which is active in villages inhabited by mostly ethnic Senthang Chin people), a military jet bombed Khuapi village, located some 30 miles south of Hakha, near the office of the group’s central executive council.

“A person was killed by the bombing at the CDF Senthang office, although the bomb didn’t hit the office directly; it fell 50 feet away. The office wasn’t damaged but the strike hit several people,” a CDF information officer said.

Salai Siang Cung Hnin, a 24-year-old assistant secretary general, was killed on the spot. Salai Duh Lian Hmung, a 23-year-old company commander, died of his injuries at around 2pm on Tuesday, according to the CDF Senthang information officer.

Salai Siang Cung Hnin (left) and Salai Duh Lian Hmung (right)

No detailed information is yet available on the three injured CDF members. There were no civilian casualties, as non-combatants had already been evacuated from the area.

Starting on Sunday and lasting two days, air attacks also injured civilians and killed three anti-junta resistance fighters in Ye Township, Mon State.

The slain fighters–two men and a woman–died in the bombing of Wei Pa Thea, a village located around 20 miles north of Ye. Two other resistance fighters were also injured during the air raid, according to Saw Liston, district secretary of Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

The deceased belonged to a unit known as the Albino Tiger Column–made up of allied People’s Defence Force (PDF) and KNLA members–which released a statement on Tuesday identifying them as Zwe Marn Lin, Tun Lin Aung, and Khin Thandar Swe.

(From left to right) Khin Thandar Swe, Tun Lin Aung, and Zwe Marn Lin

Naw Nyin Nyo, a resident of Wei Pa Thea in her 70s, also suffered a back injury during the airstrike, and a woman in her 30s named Naw Sandar Aye was also seriously injured. The bombing also started a fire that destroyed two houses, according to the statement.

Junta aircraft also came to attack as the resistance fighters’ bodies were being prepared for burial, according to Saw Liston.

“An Mi-35 helicopter shot at the village again while we were setting up for the funeral. No one was injured though,” he said.

Since seizing power in February 2021, Myanmar’s military has relied heavily on air power in its fight against resistance forces, which continue to challenge its control of the country.

The military council has now imposed martial law in 37 townships throughout the country, 11 of which are in Sagaing Region.

Martial law has also been declared throughout Chin State, where serious battles have broken out in recent months. In a statement released on Monday, the Chin National Army claimed that the military had carried out an average of more than one airstrike per day in the state, dropping more than 120 bombs, in March and April.

The military has been conducting airstrikes in KNLA territory since March 2021. A few months later, the group’s political wing, the Karen National Union, publicly condemned the coup and began offering shelter and military training to anti-junta activists.

Myanmar Now News

Spring Revolution

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Kachin State from September 15th to 21st. The Military Junta committed arresting, occupying the properties, threatening by using power, and […]

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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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