Two children were among four people beheaded by regime troops who attacked a village in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday.
The atrocity was perpetrated after around 90 regime soldiers raided the resistance stronghold of Kan Taw.
The raid sparked a 10-hour firefight as at least seven People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups defended the village, said Ko Thet Gyi, leader of the Zero Guerrilla Force, which took part in the fighting.
The junta troops had earlier abducted seven civilians, including two children aged 12 and 13, from nearby Nyaung Pin Kan village to use as human shields and guides during the raid.
After coming under attack from resistance forces, the regime troops decapitated the two child detainees at a pagoda just outside the village and also burned down its monastery.
The other five civilian detainees are still missing, said Ko Thet Gyi.
Clashes in and around Kan Taw village continued until 7pm.
PDF fighters then found two more decapitated bodies in the village.
The dead men were from the Sartaung Moegyo PDF, which was defending the village.
Zero Guerrilla Force said it also lost a temporary camp as well as 35 million kyats worth of weapons and raw materials for ammunition.
Ko Thet Gyi said the combined PDF forces managed to kill at least 17 regime soldiers in the clashes.
Regime troops also torched three monasteries, a school and 10 houses in the area. Kan Taw had already lost 450 houses in a previous junta arson attack on April 29 last year.
After occupying the village for one night, regime troops moved to nearby Htee Saung village on Monday. Zero Guerrilla Force said around 70 junta soldiers remain at the village outpost, citing video from drone surveillance.
Pro-regime media outlet Myanmar National Post reported that “security forces” (junta troops) had retrieved two dead bodies of PDF members along with weapons, ammunition, a generator and motorbikes during clashes near Kan Taw village.
It made no mention of the two child detainees beheaded or the casualties suffered by junta forces.
