Myanmar regime forces execute three hostages in Magway Region

Subscribe to the Myanmar Now daily newsletter. It's free. Sign up > Three hostages held by junta forces since late August were executed in Magway Region’s Htilin Township on Monday, according to resistance sources. The victims were among 12 people detained during an operation to defend a police outpost that had come under attack earlier in the month. Eight were later released, and one reportedly escaped. According to the information officer for the Yaw Revolution Army (YRA), two of the men who were killed were members of anti-regime groups and the third was a civilian. “Their bodies are still where they were killed, just outside of the town of Htilin. The junta forces have set up an ambush to shoot anybody who tries to recover them,” the spokesperson said. The executions appear to have been in response to an attack carried out on the junta troops as they were returning to Htilin on Monday. In a statement, the YRA said that several soldiers were killed or injured in the attack, but Myanmar Now was unable to confirm these claims. The junta column involved had been sent as reinforcements to Yae Myet Ni, a village about 30 miles northeast of Htilin, where a local police outpost had been targeted in early August. The outpost is strategically located on the road from Htilin to Gangaw. The column, which originated in Htilin, arrived in Yae Myet Ni on August 18 and began carrying out raids on villages in the area. As it returned to Htilin at the end of the month, it took hostages in three villages along the way for use as human shields. According to Sayar Kyaw, an officer of the Gangaw District People’s Defence Team, the attempt to capture the Yae Myet Ni outpost was unsuccessful because it was heavily fortified. “It’s up on high ground and has bunkers reinforced with bags of cement, so it is impenetrable, even to drone attacks,” he said. He also noted that the outpost was fiercely defended, not only by ground troops, but also with air support. More reinforcements have also arrived, from both Htilin and Gangaw, he said. He speculated that the reason for the regime’s determination to hold onto the Yae Myet Ni outpost is its proximity to a weapons factory in Kyaw, a town less than 20 miles to the east. “If they lost Yae Myet Ni, they would have a hard time defending Kyaw,” he said.

Myanmar regime forces execute three hostages in Magway Region

Two of the three men killed in Htilin Township on Monday were anti-regime fighters and one was a civilian

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