According to an international aid group and opposition to Myanmar’s ruling military, soldiers killed at least 35 villagers on Christmas Eve as they fled combat. They then burned their bodies. Among those killed may have been two staff members of the aid group. Photos taken at the scene, in Kayah state, show the charred remains of bodies in the back of three trucks.
The aid group ‘Save the Children’ reported that a car two of its employees used to drive home for the holidays. The car was among the dozen or so charred vehicles on the scene. Save the Children says the staff is now missing. ‘We are horrified at the violence perpetrated against an innocent civilian population and our staff, who support millions of children in need across Myanmar,’ Save the Children chief executive, Inger Ashing, said in a statement Saturday.
Burma’s army ruled the country for nearly half a century before ceding some power to civilian leaders a decade ago. It retook control of the country in a Feb. 1 coup and has since mounted a vicious crackdown against its opponents, some of whom have taken up arms. The Burmese army, known as the Tatmadaw, has a history of committing atrocities against civilians. In a statement Friday, the ruling junta said the vehicles found at the scene had not been stopped for inspection as ordered and that some ‘terrorists’ had opened fire.
The undersecretary of state for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said on Twitter that he was ‘horrified’ by news of the attack. ‘I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,’ he said. Approximately 150 miles south of Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, the killings occurred in a military-controlled area of Kayah state, where the Karenni ethnic group has long sought autonomy from the central government. Throughout the country, the military has fought intermittently with several armed Karenni groups, among other conflicts it has fought against ethnic militias. In Kayah state, fighting has been escalating since the coup.
The incident occurred near Moso, a Christian village in Hpruso township. At least 38 people were killed. The National Unity Government, a shadow administration formed by elected officials ousted after the coup, estimated there were 35 to 40 dead. According to the unity government, troops were conducting a ‘clearance operation’ in the township, a brutal method that the military has often used to drive residents from an area, including during the 2017 campaign against Rohingya Muslims. It has been widely characterized as ethnic cleansing. In such operations, villagers are often killed indiscriminately and their homes burned.
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According to the shadow government, troops blocked a road outside Moso on Friday, trapped fleeing residents in cars and tractors, bound them, and burned them alive in what it called a ‘Christmas massacre’. An armed group operating in Kayah state, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, said four of the junta’s border guards tried to intervene to negotiate the release of the villagers, but the soldiers killed them.
According to Gway Ba Yar, a spokesman for the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, who visited the scene and whose photographs have been widely distributed, the border guards’ bodies were not among those burned. The pictures show four dead men in border guard uniforms with their hands tied behind their backs. Based on the clothing he said had been scattered on the road, a spokesman for Karenni Human Rights Group, Ba Nya, believes several children, including infants, were killed. Ba Nya described it as a brutal war crime committed by Myanmar’s military.
Known as NUG, the unity government has accused the junta of using ‘extreme terror tactics’ against civilians. According to the report, soldiers burned alive a total of 11 people, including five children, in the Sagaing region of northwest Myanmar. Many residents have fought against the coup. As the world celebrates Christmas and the message of peace, the NUG urges the international community to act immediately and decisively to stop the military junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Myanmar people.
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