International action will be sought for the massacre of 22 people – three monks, 18 men and one woman – in Nam Neint village in Pinlaung Township, southern Shan State, Ko Bo Bo, a spokesman for the Karenni State Police (KSP), said in an online press conference on 16 March.
“We’ll conduct further investigations into the case. The autopsy of the bodies of those killed, including the monks, has revealed some clues. They had been tortured and hacked with knives. On this basis, the KSP has opened a case of arbitrary torture and killing. We’ll secure the evidence, file charges and take action. After that, we also plan to take international action,” said Ko Bo Bo.
Regarding the massacre in Nam Neint village, the Karenni Consultative Council (KSCC) and the National Unity Government (NUG) held a joint press conference on 16 March.
According to reports, the mass killing took place on the morning of 11 March.
Dr. Ye Zaw, a public health officer in Karenni State, said at the press conference that according to the autopsy results, the civilians were subjected to torture before being killed.
“According to the results of the autopsy, they would have been hit with rifle butts or other weapons. They would have been stabbed with knives. In some pictures, which I don’t want to show, some were burned with cigarettes, and grilled and cut with hot metal plates. We have all these records. Some of them were shot through the mouth and the back of the head was blown off. I have those pictures. I left out some of the pictures that are not appropriate to show and also because I didn’t have time. We have a lot of information that testifies that the killing was done by the military council. This is what we found during the medical examinations,” said Dr. Ye Zaw.
According to a statement issued by the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) on 12 March, 28 of the 30 missing people had been found.
However, at the 16 March press conference on the massacre, the Deputy Commander of the Pa-Oh National Defense Force – Kham Kaung (PNDF-KK) said they could identify 22 bodies, and another seven bodies found during drone surveillance in the village have yet to be verified.
Clashes broke out in Pinlaung Township between regime troops advancing in two columns and joint resistance forces, while regime airstrikes reportedly occurred.
Sent by Kantarawaddy Times