At least 22 people killed in suspected massacre at Myanmar monastery
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[March 17, 2023]
(Reuters) - At least 22 people, including three Buddhist
monks, were shot dead at close range in central Myanmar last week,
according to a doctor's post-mortem report, in what opponents of
military rule say was a massacre of civilians conducted by the army.
A spokesman for Myanmar's junta, which staged a coup two years ago to
depose the elected government, said its troops had been involved in
clashes with rebel fighters in the Pinlaung region of southern Shan
state but had not harmed any civilians.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a statement the Karenni
Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and another rebel group entered the
village of Nan Neint after government forces arrived to provide security
with a local people's militia.
"When the terrorist groups violently opened fire… some villagers were
killed and injured," he said.
He did not respond to multiple calls from Reuters for further comment.
Reuters could not independently verify any of the claims.
A spokesman for the KNDF said its soldiers entered Nan Neint on Sunday
and found dead bodies scattered at a Buddhist monastery.
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Video and photographs provided by the KNDF and another group, the
Karenni Revolution Union (KRU), showed bullet wounds to the torso and
heads of the dead bodies and bullet holes in the walls of the monastery.
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the material.
A post-mortem report by Dr. Ye Zaw, who is part of the National Unity
Government, an exiled civil administration formed since the coup, said
automatic weapons were likely used at close range to kill 22 people,
including three saffron-robed monks.
"Since there were no military uniforms, equipment and ammunition found
on the rest of the bodies, it is evident that they were civilians," said
the report, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters.
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![](../images/031723PIX/news_p89.jpg)
Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min
Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government in a coup on February
1, presides at an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw,
Myanmar, March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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"Since all the dead bodies were found within the compound of Nan
Nein monastery, it is evident that this was a massacre."
Fighting has been raging in the area for at least two weeks, with
about 100 structures burnt down in and around the site of the
alleged massacre in Nan Neint, according to local media reports,
resistance forces and satellite images verified by Myanmar Witness,
an organisation that documents human rights violations.
The Southeast Asian country has been in crisis since the military
seized power in February 2021, ending a decade of tentative steps
towards democracy by unseating the administration led by Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Resistance movements, some armed, have emerged nationwide, which the
military has countered with lethal force and labelled "terrorists".
Some ethnic military forces have also sided against the junta.
Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister in the National Unity
Government, said the junta had ramped up combat operations and
attacked groups of unarmed civilians in at least four instances in
the last two weeks.
"It is clearly evident that the strategy of the junta is to target
civilians, which is a crime against humanity," he told reporters in
an online media conference.
The junta has denied it targets civilians, saying its troops only
respond to attacks by "terrorists".
At least 3,137 people have been killed in the military crackdown
since the coup, according to the non-profit Assistance Association
for Political Prisoners.
The United Nations has accused the military of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Lincoln
Feast.)
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