Army, resistance trade accusations over killings in Myanmar

Myanmars military government has denied reports of a new mass killing of civilians by its troops instead blaming prodemocracy resistance groups for the deaths of more than 20 people including three Buddhist monks and a womanMembers of armed resistance groups opposed to the military government have said the bodies of 22 people were found late Saturday in the compound of the Buddhist monastery in Nam Nein village in the southern part of Shan State in eastern Myanmar They blamed the army for the deaths No independent witnesses have emerged The military governments tight restrictions on travel and information make it virtually impossible to verify details of such incidentsThe village is about 80 kilometers 50 miles east of the capital Naypyitaw The area is part of the SelfAdministered Zone of the PaO ethnic minority It is governed by the PaO National Organization or PNO which is allied with the military government Other PaO support the resistanceReports of the killings came about a week after accusations that troops earlier this month rampaged through several villages in western Myanmar carrying out rapes and beheadings and killing at least 17 peopleCritics of the military say there is strong evidence that the army has repeatedly carried out war crimes since seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 Opposition to military rule has turned into what some UN experts have described as a civil warEarlier this month UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuumlrk accused the ruling generals of implementing a scorched earth policy in an attempt to stamp out oppositionAntigovernment resistance groups and villagers who had fled Nam Nein earlier but kept in touch by phone with the monastery said about 30 people had been sheltering in its main building since fighting in the area escalated last month Exactly what happened Saturday morning is unclear but the aftermath was documented in photos and videoThose released on social media by the antigovernment Karenni Nationalities Defense Force showed monks and other men with apparent bullet wounds lying near and against the wall of the monasterys main building They also show pools of blood and bullet holes dotting the wallThe PaO area is next to Kayah State where the Karenni an ethnic minority fighting against the government are dominant A local leader of the Karenni guerrillas who took the photos said that his groups snipers in the surrounding area had used their rifle scopes to watch about 100 soldiers firing their guns and torching houses as they entered the village Saturday morningHe said the snipers were unable to watch more because they had to withdraw when coming under fire from government aircraft The Karenni guerrilla who asked not to be identified because of fear of reprisals by the military acknowledged that his forces had not witnessed the killings but had only seen the bodies when they entered the village late Saturday and took photos He strongly denied the resistance forces had been responsible for the killings as had been alleged by the army and its supportersAlso read Myanmar coup anniversary marked by lsquosilent strikersquoMaj Gen Zaw Min Tun a spokesperson for Myanmars ruling military council said the violence was initiated by the resistance forces who ambushed army troops and members of an associated militia force and then entered the village where fighting continuedHe described the resistance forces the Karenni National Progressive Party an ethnic minority militia battling the army and their allies in the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force and Peoples Defense Force as terrorist groups that had been posing threats to the area since early this monthThe Karenni have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy The Peoples Defence Forces were formed by the prodemocracy movement after the 2021 military takeover and are allied with groups such as the KarenniWhen KNPFKNPPPDF terrorist groups violently opened fire it was seen that some villagers were killed and injured the military spokesperson said in an interview published in Tuesdays edition of the staterun Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper We only attacked KNP KNDF and PDF groups Zaw Min Tun said The news about the death of the villagers is just wrong Some of the villagers were killed and injured as they opened fireA 45yearold Nam Nain resident who left the village in late February because of fighting told The Associated Press that he had been in daily touch by phone with the monasterys presiding monk who refused his entreaties to leaveThe monk called me at 8 am on Saturday He said They are entering into the village I can hear the sounds of gunshots and artillery and he suddenly hung up the phone said the villager who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being punished by the authoritiesHe couldnt say which groups entered So it is not clear who killed the people the villager said on Monday He added that the monk who was his nephew and two of his brothersinlaw were among those killedA village elder who also left Nam Nein in late February told AP that all those killed in the monastery compound were civilians who had stayed to help look after the monksMore than 20 people who were killed in the monastery were just our villagers They are not the PDF members not soldiers and members of PNO said the villager who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being punished by both the authorities and local prodemocracy forcesHe said he also was told over the phone by the presiding monk about troops entering the village on Saturday morning but didnt know if they were from the army or the guerrillasManny Maung a researcher for Human Rights Watch speculated that the villages relative proximity to the countrys capital might have caused the military to act to deter guerrilla activity in the areaIts impossible for independent verifiers or independent researchers to go in But it has the classic hallmarks of military atrocities she said iquestI think that if we dont get the opportunity to go in now were likely never to know who the actual perpetrators wereThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever