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Two civilians killed as junta offensive on Thai-Myanmar border continues

December 27, 2021/in News

Both victims were near a camp for displaced civilians when they were killed by heavy artillery fire on Christmas day At least two civilians were killed on Saturday as Myanmar’s military continued its offensive against anti-regime forces near the Thai-Myanmar border over the Christmas weekend. The junta used heavy artillery as well as helicopters and […]

59 civil society organizations issue a statement on the massacre of Karenni people by terrorist Myanmar military junta

December 26, 2021/in Press Releases and Statements

December 26, 2021 On December 24, 2021, Light Infantry Battalion 108 under the command of Light Infantry Division 66 of the terrorist military junta which is trying to seize power illegally, launched an offensive clearance operation near Moso Village in the western part of Hpruso Township in Karenni State, and arrested approximately 40 innocent villagers […]

Two civilians killed as junta offensive on Thai-Myanmar border continues

December 27, 2021/in News

59 civil society organizations issue a statement on the massacre of Karenni people by terrorist Myanmar military junta

December 26, 2021/in Press Releases and Statements

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Two civilians killed as junta offensive on Thai-Myanmar border continues

December 27, 2021/in News

Both victims were near a camp for displaced civilians when they were killed by heavy artillery fire on Christmas day

At least two civilians were killed on Saturday as Myanmar’s military continued its offensive against anti-regime forces near the Thai-Myanmar border over the Christmas weekend.

The junta used heavy artillery as well as helicopters and a jet fighter to pound targets in territory controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) in Kayin (Karen) State’s Myawaddy Township, multiple sources told Myanmar Now.

Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the KNU’s foreign affairs officer and spokesperson, confirmed the reports of shelling and airstrikes, but said that none of the group’s troops had been killed or wounded in the attacks.

The two civilian victims were identified as Aung Myo Zin, a 40-year-old cook at a temporary camp for displaced villagers, and 38-year-old A Sai K, the editor of the anti-junta Federal Journal, who had recently fled to the area.

Both men were killed after an artillery shell exploded near a school in Htee Mei Wah Khee, a village that had been sheltering around 400 displaced locals, at around 1pm Saturday, according to witnesses.

“Airplanes flew over at least three times and dropped many bombs. Then the military’s ground troops opened fire with heavy weapons,” said a member of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which has also been involved in recent clashes in the area.

One man in his 40s—later identified as Aung Myo Zin—was killed instantly, he added.

Friends of the other victim, A Sai K, said they didn’t learn of his death until the following day.

“We scattered after the shell hit and had no idea what was going on. The people who were there didn’t know who he was because he had only recently arrived,” said Soe Ya, the editor-in-chief of the Delta News Agency, who was with A Sai K at the time of the attack.

“We checked the body this morning and realised it was him,” he told Myanmar Now on Sunday.

A_sai_k.jpeg

A friend of A Sai K writes his name on a wooden board as he and other friends prepare to bury his body (Supplied)

Several other people were also injured, including one man whose leg had to be amputated. The total number of casualties could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.

While only two bodies had been discovered as of Sunday, it was possible that others had also been killed, according to Soe Ya.

“These were heavy weapons that exploded near a group of displaced people. More people may have been killed, but we can’t confirm that yet,” he said, adding that at least seven people had suffered head injuries.

According to the PDF member, several artillery shells landed around Htee Mae Wah Khee, including one that exploded at a church that was under construction.

He added that civilians taking shelter in the village were later moved to a safer location.

Following the hour-long attack, the military’s ground troops advanced towards Htee Mae Wah Khee, according to the PDF member and a soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU.

From 7pm to 3am Sunday, KNLA and PDF troops clashed with the junta army and the Karen Border Guard Force, an ethnic armed group under the command of the Myanmar military, the two sources said.

During the fighting, at least one artillery shell landed on the Thai side of the border, according to a report by Kawkareik Open News.

The shell was fired by the military from the village of Thay Baw Boe, south of Myawaddy, and hit a house in Mawli Chai, a village in Thailand’s Mae Sot Province, the report said.

Meanwhile, local media in Thailand reported that some tanks were seen heading towards the Thai-Myanmar border on Saturday as clashes on the Myanmar side continued.

On December 20, the KNU called on the United Nations to hold an emergency meeting to establish a no-fly zone over the Thai-Myanmar border to prevent the regime from carrying out airstrikes.

Three days later, the junta launched airstrikes on Lay Kay Kaw, a town under the control of the KNLA’s Brigade 6, before carrying out subsequent attacks during the Christmas weekend.

Clashes between the military and the KNLA were triggered by military raids on Lay Kay Kaw on December 14, in which some 30 people, including an MP from the ousted National League for Democracy government, were arrested.

Public Voice Television, a media outlet operated by the shadow National Unity Government, claimed earlier this week that KNLA and PDF fighters had killed at least 68 junta troops, including command-level officers, since the fighting began.

Around 10,000 civilians have been displaced by the deteriorating security situation in the area. Roughly half are believed to have crossed the Moei River into Thailand, where they have received assistance from the Thai authorities.

Written by Tin Htet Paing

Linn Htin contributed to this report

Myanmar Now News

59 civil society organizations issue a statement on the massacre of Karenni people by terrorist Myanmar military junta

December 26, 2021/in Press Releases and Statements

December 26, 2021

On December 24, 2021, Light Infantry Battalion 108 under the command of Light Infantry Division 66 of the terrorist military junta which is trying to seize power illegally, launched an offensive clearance operation near Moso Village in the western part of Hpruso Township in Karenni State, and arrested approximately 40 innocent villagers including women and children. They then put them in vehicles while they were handcuffed behind their backs and burned them alive, intentionally committing a massacre. Karenni State Consultative Council (KSCC) has released an emergency statement on these atrocity crimes.

Since May 20, 2021, nearly half of the Karenni population of 150,000 people have been displaced and became internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to brutal human rights violations, including artillery shelling, burning, violent crackdowns, torture, arbitrary arrests and killings by the military junta’s troops in Karenni State. More than 652 houses and buildings have been destroyed, and hundreds of innocent people have been killed.

We, the civil society organizations, strongly condemn the actions that amount to international crimes perpetrated by the military junta in Karenni State and we will stand with Karenni People to get justice. A similar massacre took place at Dontaw Village in Salingyi Township in Sagaing Region on December 7 where 11 innocent civilians were burned to death. Before this, the terrorist military junta has been the perpetrator on three occasions where at least 40 people were massacred in three different inhumane incidents in Kani Township, Saging Region in July. We are worried that these kinds of inhumane actions will continue to happen.

While the atrocities were being committed in Karenni State, since December 15 the terrorist military junta started to shell using heavy weaponry at Lay Kay Kaw and surrounding areas in Karen State and later with the use of airstrikes, as jets bombed the area indiscriminately. This has displaced more than 10,000 innocent civilians, half of whom fled to Thailand to take refuge. Some Thai villagers also had to relocate for security reasons as some houses on the Thai side of the border were destroyed by artillery shells fired by the terrorist military junta.

The terrorist military junta continues to perpetrate such inhumane criminal acts against people across the country including those in Karenni and Karen States, as they were not held to account for the international atrocity crimes they committed for decades and justice has not been brought. These acts of the terrorist military junta cause extremely high levels of human insecurity and suffering for the people.

Therefore, we urge the United Nations Security Council, Secretary General and international community to immediately respond and take action as follows so that the terrorist regime led by Min Aung Hlaing is effectively punished.

To impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar so that the weapons and technology does not reach the terrorist junta;

To refer the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC); and

Impose targeted sanctions on the terrorist military junta as well as their businesses and their cronies’ businesses to cut the flow of money to the terrorist junta.

For more information, please contact:

Ko Banya, Karenni Human Rights Group, banya7881@gmail.com

Naw Htoo Htoo, Karen Human Right Group, htoothu@khrg.org

Nai Aue Mon, Human Rights Foundation of Monland, auemon@rehmonnya.org

Signed by the following civil society organizations:

1. Ah Nah – Conversations with Myanmar

2. All Arakan Student’s and Youths’ Congress

3. Arakan CSO Network

4. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners

5. Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters

6. Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization

7. Blood Money Campaign

8. Burmese Canadian Network

9. Burmese Democratic Forces USA

10. Burmese People in Ireland

11. Burmese Women’s Union

12. CRPH and NUG Supporters Ireland

13. CRPH Funding Ireland

14. Democracy for Ethnic Minorities Organization

15. Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization – DPW

16. Equality Myanmar

17. Federal Myanmar Benevolence Group New Zealand

18. Future Light Center

19. Future Thanlwin

20. Human Rights Foundation of Monland

21. Kachin Women’s Association Thailand

22. Karen Environmental and Social Action Network

23. Karen Human Rights Group

24. Karen Peace Support Network

25. Karen Rivers Watch

26. Karen Women’s Organization

27. Karenni Civil Society Network

28. Karenni Human Rights Group

29. Karenni National Women’s Organization

30. Karenni National Youth Organization

31. Kayah State Students Union

32. Kayan New Generation Youth

33. Kayan Women Organization

34. Keng Tung Youth

35. La Commumauté Birmane de France

36. Let’s Help Each Other

37. Metta Campaign Mandalay

38. Myanmar Democratic Force Denmark

39. Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State)

40. Network for Human Rights Documentation (ND-Burma)

41. Olive Organization

42. Pa-O Women’s Union

43. Progressive Voice

44. Save and Care Organization for Ethnic Women at Border Areas

45. Save Myanmar USA

46. Shan MATA

47. Sisters 2 Sisters

48. Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation

49. Southern Youth Development Organization

50. Support the Democracy Movement in Burma

51. Ta’ang Women’s Organization

52. Ta’ang Legal Aid

53. Tanintharyi MATA

54. Union of Karenni State Youth

55. US Advocacy Coalition Myanmar

56. Women Advocacy Coalition – Myanmar

57. Women for Women Foundation

58. Women’s League of Burma

59. Women’s Peace Network

Download PDF file in English I Burmese.

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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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