Burma
Myinmu Township.
Eleven civilians were killed when Myanmar junta soldiers told villagers hiding in a monastery to run and shot them from behind in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region, on Monday, according to witnesses.
Around 150 soldiers raided Kan Phya village on Monday and shot dead male villagers, a Myinmu Township People’s Defense Force (PDF) member told The Irrawaddy, quoting witnesses.
“Junta soldiers asked three men to come out and told them to squat and put their hands on their heads. They then asked some 80 other people to come out. They gunned down the three men, telling the villagers to run and that they would shoot anyone who did not run. They then separated men from the group and asked them to run between the burned monastery and Myat Saw Nyi Naung pagoda. They counted to five and started shooting,” he said.
Five men were gunned down and another man was injured in his thigh.
Junta troops looted food on Monday and told villagers hiding at the village monastery to give them motorbikes to carry food. They shot dead a man when villagers refused to give them motorbikes. Villagers were interrogated after a handgun was found in a motorbike, leading to the shooting of villagers.
A Myinmu resident, who witnessed the shooting, said: “Two other men were killed when junta troops torched the monastery. All of them were Kan Phya villagers.”
Two of the victims were around 50 and the rest were between 16 and 30, according to Myinmu PDF, which cremated the bodies on Tuesday.
Villagers have since fled into forests and require food and medicine. PDFs are gathering donations for food.
Junta troops also torched a hall at Myat Saw Nyi Naung pagoda as well as the monastery and around 100 motorbikes from villagers.
“I have previously only seen those things in films in which people were told to run and shot from behind. But we have seen it in the real world now. Junta soldiers are quite despicable and cruel. We won’t forgive them,” said the PDF member.
The troops are reportedly from the North Western Command based in Monywa and currently deployed in San Tin Kin village in Myinmu.
