A 16-year-old girl was shot dead in a house in the village of Chaunggyi, Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region at midday on Monday.
Ma Thida Aye had gone to stay a friend’s home after hearing gunshots in the village. But while in the house the girl was shot twice by a sniper on a hill some 1,000 feet from the village, her father U Win Kyaing told The Irrawaddy.
“My daughter was shot twice by a sniper from a hill while the children were sitting in the house behind my house. She died soon afterwards,” said U Win Kyaing. The funeral of the girl was held the same evening.
“She was 16 and would be in 11th grade if schools had not been closed due to COVID-19,” said U Win Kyaing.
One of Ma Thida Aye’s friends suffered injuries to her fingers in the shooting and was sent to Shwebo Hospital for treatment.
Chaunggyi Village is located between Singu and Thabeikkyin. Anti-coup protesters have gathered daily at a junction leading to Mogok, Thabeikkyin and Mandalay. On Monday, security forces arrested some protesters there and then clashed with local residents calling for their release. The protesters escaped, but a woman was injured when soldiers fired shots at passers-by from a military truck.
“A woman was hit. Those villages are located up the road and the villagers there phoned us to say that five soldiers fired shots. So we people from Chaunggyi pulled the military truck over as the truck drove down. We detained two men with two guns. Three fled and fired shots from the mountain with a sniper rifle,” said U Win Kyaing.
He said he did not bring his daughter’s dead body back to Chaunggyi village, but took her to a village in Singu Township where there is a hospital.
“She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital,” said U Win Kyaing. “Security forces were deployed on the main bridge that we must pass along if we were to carry her body back to the village. We were concerned that the soldiers would grab her body. So we buried her in Singu,” he added.
There were reports that at least five people were killed when military personnel opened fire in Kyayhtaukpauk Village in Singu. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify those reports.
Almost 200 people have been killed in the military crackdown on anti-regime protesters since the Feb. 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
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