At least 40 civilians have been killed by the junta’s airstrikes, indiscriminate shelling and gun shots, often to the head, in six resistance strongholds—Bago, Magwe, Mandalay, Sagaing and Tanintharyi regions and Karen State—since the beginning of September, resistance groups said.
At least 19 people have been killed by junta troops in Katha, Indaw, Myinmu and Sagaing townships of Sagaing Region since the first week of September. At least eight people were killed in a series of raids conducted by junta troops in the region’s Katha Township, resistance forces said. The most recent killings in the region occurred on Sunday where four residents of Toke Gyi Village were shot dead by junta infantry. “We’ve found at least four bodies, so far. They also arrested at least five villagers,” a local resistance member said.
The killings followed a clash on Sunday when resistance forces from Min Lel and Toke Gyi villages attacked six barges carrying about 200 junta troops from Mandalay that arrived Katha Town on Sunday. Nearby Toke Gyi Village was torched by junta infantry, destroying at least 38 homes.
Another column of junta troops killed a civilian in Nyaung Pin Kwin Village on September 13, a resistance member from Katha said.
He also said three residents of Pyin Htaung Lay Village were killed by junta troops during the first week of September. Indaw Revolution resistance group said three people, including a Buddhist monk, were killed in Sagaing’s Indaw Township when junta warplanes bombed Kha Yan Sat Kone Village on September 15.
At least four people, including a resistance member, were killed in Myinmu Township’s Nyaung Yin Village on September 14 and September 15, sources said.
In Sagaing Township, three groups of junta forces have killed at least four people in a series of raids that began on September 14. “All the victims were shot in the head. We cremated their bodies yesterday,” a resistance member said. Junta forces also destroyed two resistance camps in the township’s Kin Taw and Myin Se villages on September 14. They are currently stationed in Nyaung Pin Wun Village, sources said.
Junta troops killed at least six people, including a resistance member, in Magwe Region’s Myaing and Gangaw townships between September 9 and 16. A series of clashes broke out between junta troops and resistance forces in Magwe in early September.
The Myaing People Defense Force (PDF) reported that two people, including one resistance member, from Kan Gyi Yoe Village were killed by junta troops between September 9 and September 11. Junta forces also arrested eight villagers from Kan Gyi Yoe Village on September 9 and killed two of them on September 16, the PDF said. In Gangaw Township, two residents died instantly and seven more were injured by junta indiscriminate shelling on September 16, the PDF said.
Four people, including a restaurant owner and his wife, were killed by a Pyu Saw Htee pro-junta militia in Singu Township in Mandalay Region on September 17. The killing was in retaliation for a resistance attack against a Phyu Saw Htee member which happened at the restaurant or the victims, sources said.
Myeik People Defense Force said four villagers, including two women, were shot dead by junta troops in Let Ku Village in Tanintharyi Township on September 17. Fighting lasted for two days in the village and one resident was killed by junta shelling on September 16, the PDF said.
At least six people were killed and 17 were injured by junta airstrikes and indiscriminate shelling in territory controlled by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Bago Region and Karen State.
The KNLA reported that two people were killed and 10 more were injured by junta shelling in Bago’s Nyaung Lay Bin Township between September 1 and September 12.
A teacher and three students were also killed during a junta airstrike in Hpapun Township on September 7.
