Police and soldiers have killed two people and injured nine others during a crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Twante township, Yangon region, witnesses said.
One man was shot in the head while another man was killed after being shot in the chest. Their names and ages are not yet known.
“Their dead bodies are still in the hospital, but there are also soldiers in the hospital,” said a local resident. About 200 protesters gathered on Saturday morning for a sit-in demonstration at the Shwe Sandaw Pagoda. At around 2pm, trucks full of soldiers arrived from the direction of Hlaing Thar Yar township.
The soldiers spilled into the downtown area and started shooting at people they saw on the roads, said one of the protest leaders.
“We had already dispersed at that time. But we gathered again as we heard the military trucks were coming from the Hlaing Thar Yar side. They came and attacked people like they were shooting enemies in a battle,” she said.
The man who was shot in the head was killed while trying to save injured people near the eastern side of the pagoda, she added.
A Twante resident who is close to the Seitta Thukha social services association, which is helping the injured and the families of two dead men, said soldiers took five injured people to the Mingaladon military hospital.
As of around 7pm on Saturday evening, there were about 15 military trucks and cars carrying about 200 soldiers from the 77th Light Infantry Division positioned around the Twante hospital. A resident said they could still hear gunfire near the hospital.
