Junta troops kill seven civilians in Tanintharyi Region

Junta forces killed seven residents in an encounter at a rubber plantation in Tanintharyi Region’s Thayetchaung Township on Febyar 27, local residents told Myanmar Now. The dead included a couple in their mid-30s, a 40-year-old woman and four others, one man and three women. Three had returned from Dawei after seeking refuge there and were checking on their homes when they encountered junta troops. “They bombed Son Sin Hpyar village on February 24,” a resident of the village told Myanmar Now. “After their homes were damaged, they returned from Dawei City on February 27 to assess the damage and were reportedly intercepted near the village by junta forces.” Troops from Infantry Battalion 409, deployed to reinforce it, killed the residents, according to a February statement from the Karen National Union (KNU). One victim, a woman in her 40s, was killed while traveling alone on her motorcycle, a friend said. “My friend was riding her motorcycle after buying fish from the market,” she said. “Her companions urged her to take another route, but she refused, saying she had an appointment. She rode alone, and the incident occurred along that path. From the photos, it appears she was deliberately killed.” A 27-year-old driver and three women in their 30s were also killed while traveling by motorcycle with a sidecar, sources close to the victims said. They were heading south when troops shot them near the same location. Intense clashes between resistance forces and the junta military have resumed in Thayetchaung Township from the first week of February, prompting most residents along the Dawei–Myeik Pyidaungsu road to flee. It was amid this turmoil that the massacre took place. Photos circulating on social media show six of the victims dead with gunshot wounds to the head at the edge of a rubber plantation near the road. A woman in her 40s was shot in the head and chest, her body lying by the road, not far from the others. Myanmar Now has attempted to contact KNU Brigade 4, the NUG-led Thayetchaung Township People’s Defence Team and Dawei District Battalion 1 for information on the incident. So far no response has been received. On February 28, a 25-year-old man with ties to resistance forces said the military sent ground reinforcements through Dawei at least twice after attacks on the police station, adding that with phone lines down, he fears troops may have taken the victims hostage before killing them.Since fighting has escalated in recent weeks, residents say the military has carried out near-daily airstrikes on surrounding villages, many civilians in recent weeks. Thousands have fled to nearby towns or are sheltering in makeshift huts in farmland and along roadsides.Locals in the area are now concerned that there could be more arbitrary killings of civilians.“Without telephone lines, we don’t have the full picture,” a resistance source said. “Fighting was intense all day yesterday. The first junta column was trapped and couldn’t advance. Then the civilians, taken hostage, were reportedly killed during that period.”

Junta troops kill seven civilians in Tanintharyi Region

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