Three girls aged nine to 11 from a displacement camp near Laiza in Kachin State have allegedly been kidnapped and killed by a man identified as the husband of their teacher.
The three went missing on February 22 after they left the Je Yang camp near the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)’s headquarters to visit another teacher.
The families used drones in their search. They received a phone call on February 25 from the kidnapper, demanding a ransom of 100,000 yuan (US$13,700) for each girl.
Bodies of two girls were found that evening beside a lake with wounds suggesting that they were killed with a stone, according to a source. Their bodies were injured and bore signs of sexual abuse, said the source.
“One of the mothers told me that their genitals were swollen,” he said.
The third body, who was an only child, was found on Wednesday morning hanging from a tree, her eyeballs removed, her lip cut in half and other signs of torture.
Photos on social media show the three girls had their hands tied behind their backs. Their legs were tied and they were blindfolded.
The KIA has arrested Ohn Sawng Dwe Awng, the 25-year-old husband of the victims’ teacher at the camp. The suspect has not yet confessed.
The source said the teacher said that she and her husband met the three girls on February 22 on their way back from Laiza and that her husband went out again after they got home. He had been agitated since the pictures of the victims spread on social media, she said.
KIA troops found him on Wednesday morning near the third victim.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu has vowed to step up the group’s law enforcement measures in response to the murders in its territory.
