Regime forces tortured and killed five people, including two guerrilla fighters, in Sagaing Region’s Ayadaw Township late last week, according to a local resistance source.
Ko Swe, a spokesperson for the township’s anti-junta People’s Administration Team, said that all five victims were captured by a military column of around 50 soldiers last Sunday.
The first two to die were members of a village defence force who were caught trying to plant explosives between the villages of Kyauk Sayit Kan and Wah Yaung, said Ko Swe.
Both men, who he declined to identify, showed signs of torture before being shot dead at close range.
“We recovered their bodies after they were left behind by the soldiers. It seems that they were tortured before being killed. Their bodies were slashed with knives and then they were shot in the head,” he told Myanmar Now.
After reaching Wah Yaung, the soldiers torched several huts and abducted three more men, who they took as hostages before leaving for Kyauk Pyauk, a village known as a stronghold of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia, according to Ko Swe.
Their bodies were found near the village two days later, he said.
“They had knife cuts all over them. Kyauk Pyauk is one of the villages that are happy to greet and feed the junta soldiers whenever they come, and the bodies were found near there.”
He identified the victims as Thingyan Maung Maung, 19, Moe Aung, 30, and Min Min Aung, 33.
After leaving Kyauk Pyauk, the junta column returned to the town of Ayadaw, some 4.5km to the north, he added.
Many residents of the area fled their homes ahead of the column’s advance and had still not returned as of the time of reporting.
Ayadaw Township is strongly contested by resistance forces and those loyal to the military. As in many other parts of the country, regime soldiers and their allies have been accused of carrying out arson attacks against communities suspected of supporting the resistance.
Citing data collected by his administration team, Ko Swe said that more than 1,200 houses from a total of 27 villages in the township have been destroyed by the junta’s arson campaigns.
