Locals and Karenni resistance groups have reported finding bodies of locals murdered by military council troops in Karenni (Kayah) State, while many more bodies remain unrecovered.
Following the military coup and “Operation 1111”, the bodies of five civilians were discovered at a site in Khauk Pa Lawt village in Demoso Township, where military council troops had been stationed.
“Only the bones are left. Some still had clothes on, so we could tell which village they were from. For others without clothes, we could only make guesses based on the bones,” said a member of People’s Defense Force – Demoso who was involved in clearance operation in the area.
Among the bodies found in Khauk Pa Lawt village were a man around 50 years old from ဒေါငံခါး Ward 4 of Demoso, and a man between 40-50 years old from Ta Nei U Kwaing. Others could not be identified, he said.
The man from Ward 4 was reportedly shot dead by junta troops as he tried to sneak back home one year ago, despite the resistance forces’ attempts to prevent villagers from entering the area for their safety, the Demoso PDF member added.
“One person from the village tried to go home. (We) tried to stop him four or five times. Later, he tried to sneak home unnoticed by comrades seeing. That’s when the shots rang out and we knew,” he said.
Clearance operations by Karenni resistance forces are still ongoing in Demoso , and there could be more bodies of civilians killed by the military council troops.
Similar discoveries have been made in Loikaw, where the bodies of civilians killed by junta troops during Operation 1111 near Loikaw Prison have yet to be recovered even after around four months, according to a local woman who lived in the Daw Au Khu Ward near the prison.
“They say there are dead bodies there too. The bodies haven’t been able to be recovered yet. It looks like they are civilian bodies. They might have fled and unfortunately ended up on that road. How could they be aware of this?,” the woman said.
Currently, junta soldiers have been aiming with sniper rifles from inside Loikaw Prison and have burned down nearby houses to clear their firing lines. As a result, the exact number of civilians shot dead remains unknown, and the area is unsafe for people to access,” the woman continued.
The Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC) is working with Karenni resistance forces to help find the missing civilians arbitrarily killed by the military council forces, said IEC’s second secretary U Banyar.
“We’ve received reports of missing persons and requests for search help. When such cases arise, we try to coordinate with either our members or the Karenni State Police (KSP) committee managing the city. That’s what we are doing now,” said U Banyar.
In the last week of March, a local in Loikaw was shot dead by junta troops while trying to retrieve some belongings, and his body has not been able to be recovered yet due to the presence of junta troops in the area, U Banyar added.
According to local sources, there are believed to be at least 15 bodies of civilians killed by the junta troops following Operation 1111 in Loikaw that have not been recovered yet.
Sent by NMG.