Members of the anti-junta Black Eagle urban guerrilla group found one of their comrades dead in the Mu River in central Sagaing Region last Friday, the day after his arrest by junta forces.
The deceased resistance fighter was Aye Min Htet, 18, whom the military took captive during a raid on a house in Mya Kan Thar ward in the town of Khin-U on Thursday evening.
The soldiers then took him to a pharmacy in town, where the military maintains a base, before transferring him to a police station. A spokesperson for the Black Eagle urban guerrilla group said they heard a gunshot from inside the police station during the night.
“He was killed the same night he was arrested. We found his body in the river the next day,” another member of the Black Eagle urban guerrilla group said.
Aye Min Htet’s arrest occurred during a raid on a private home belonging to Thida Oo, 37, who lived in Khin-U with her three-year-old twin sons. Six members of the Black Eagle guerrilla group were also in the house at the time.
Junta soldiers reportedly opened fire immediately when they arrived outside the house, giving no prior warning.
Thuta Nyi Nyi Htet, one of the three-year-old children, was shot in the head and died at the scene. Thida Oo’s next door neighbour U Bein, who was in his 50s, was also shot dead.
The soldiers then detained Thida Oo, her other son Thuta Ko Ko Htet, and Ye Min Htet, as well as taking U Bein’s and Thuta Nyi Nyi Htet’s bodies with them.
The military has accused Thida Oo of fighting for the resistance and is currently holding her at the central police station in Khin-U.
Junta forces, mostly made up of troops based in Kanbalu Township and Ma Daung Hla village, located some 10 miles north of Khin-U Township’s urban area, are still conducting raids in Khin-U Township with no sign of stopping.
“There are over 300 of them in Khin-U Township. They’ve been ransacking the southwestern part of the township, especially,” the Black Eagle spokesperson said.
On Monday, junta forces fired on a checkpoint manned by members of the Khin-U Phoenix urban guerrilla group at the entrance to Khin-U.
According to data collected by groups under the command of the publicly mandated National Unity Government, the military has torched and severely damaged nearly 6,000 houses in more than 70 villages in Khin-U Township.
The soldiers disposed of Aye Min Htet’s body in a river less than a week after a separate, similar incident in Sagaing Region, in which a junta patrol killed four civilian hostages in Yinmabin Township before dumping their bodies in the Myauk Yamar Creek.
