Four young members of a Karenni Revolution Union (KRU) medical unit were killed in clashes with junta troops on May 27, according to a KRU statement issued today.
The four victims were named as Ko Mya Htwe, Ma Angela, Ko Bobs Ko, and Ma Caroline Khine Lin. The statement said Caroline Khine Lin was 17 years old, Ko Mya Htwe was 26, and the other two members of the unit were around 20.
The four medics were killed as they treated injured fighters on the frontline, it added.
Their funerals were held on Sunday, the KRU said.
The KRU operates as part of anti-regime alliance with the Karenni Generation-Z (KGZ), Karenni Democratic Front (KDF), Fight For Justice (JPDF), GZ-21 (Loikaw), Medic Unit, and the Southern Shan People Defence Force (SSPDF).
It has teamed up the other Karenni resistance groups and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) to fight junta troops.
Dove KK, a humanitarian relief and medical team working with resistance groups in southern Shan and Kayah states, issued a message of condolence after the killings.
It said the four medics had attended Batch 2 of its medical training and were not only treating resistance fighters but also assisting internally displaced persons.
“Caroline was a student with a dream to become an engineer. But when she became a medic, she was on constant standby with a first-aid bag. Though she was just a medic, she was so brave and never hesitated to go to the frontline. She saved the lives of many comrades,” one of her senior colleagues said.
Intensifying clashes between junta troops and resistance groups in Kayah State are causing fresh casualties on both sides daily.
