The Myanmar regime has murdered almost 170 people in five separate massacres since July 2021, with most of the killings taking place in Sagaing Region, said the human rights minister of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
On Tuesday, U Aung Myo Min said that regime forces committed massacres in Sagaing and Magwe Regions, as well as in Kayah, Chin and Shan states .The victims included children and women.
Sagaing, Magwe, Chin and Kayah are strongholds of the resistance movement, with fighting occurring daily between junta forces and resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations.
The military regime has responded with extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests during raids, and by torching and looting civilian homes.
The minister said 15 villagers were killed on July 11 last year in Sagaing’s Kani Township. Further murders took place in three other villages in Kani on July 26, 27, 28 and 31, taking the number of civilians massacred in the same area to over 40.
“Killing a number of unarmed people in the same place or at the same time is no longer merely a human rights violation. It is a crime against humanity, ethnic cleansing and a war crime. Violators will be heavily punished,” said U Aung Myo Min.
The NUG has also recorded 48 civilians murdered in Sagaing between February and May this year. The total number of people massacred in the region reached more than 84 as of May 2022.
Sagaing massacres in 2021
Regime forces killed over 40 villagers in Kani Township on July 2021. 15 people from Yin and Kone Thar villages were murdered on July 11, 2021, with the remaining victims from Yin Village, Kyaut Taw Thaik Village and Taung Pauk Village killed over four consecutive days at the end of July.
Around 10 people, including teenagers aged from 14 to 17, were killed by junta forces on December 7, 2021 in Done Taw Village in Salingyi Township.
48 Sagaing residents killed from February to May 2022
The NUG reported that eight bodies were found in Badai Village in Myinmu Township, and that five people were burned alive by regime forces on February 3, 2022. In the same month, two daughters and a mother were killed in Kale Township.
Four people – 3 fighters from a People’s Defense Force and one villager – were burned alive at Oat Pho Village in Ye-U Township on March 1.
Another 28 bodies were found in Mohntaipin Village in Ye-U Township on May 12, some of them had been burned.
BBC Burmese reported that junta troops came to Mohntaipin Village and arrested over 50 civilians on May 10, and that 31 burned bodies were discovered in Mohntaipin and Inpin villages on May 12.
11 Chin State civilians murdered on January 6, 2022
Regime forces detained and killed 11 civilians in Matupi Township on January 6, 2022.
Kayah State Massacre of 49 villagers including Save the Children staff
Some 49 villagers including woman, children and two staffers from Save the Children were burned alive in seven vehicles on December 24, 2021 by regime forces in Hpruso Township.
On December 25, Save the Children confirmed that two of their staff were killed and condemned the attack by the Myanmar military.
Nine men in Shan State burned alive
On April 19, 2022 nine men from Paeyintaung Village in Ywangan Township in Shan State were burned alive.
Some 1,861 people have been killed since last year’s coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). An AAPP staff member told The Irrawaddy that some of the almost 170 people massacred who are listed by the NUG are not on AAPP lists, meaning that the number of people killed after the coup is likely higher than 1,861.
“We are contacting the NUG’s Ministry of Human Rights and will request them to send us the exact list. We will update our information after we get the data”, said the AAPP staffer.
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