UN decries ‘escalation of grave human rights abuses’ in Myanmar

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that Myanmar's military was committing grave violations including killing 11 people and setting fire to their bodies.

"We are appalled by the alarming escalation of grave human rights abuses in Myanmar," UN human rights spokesperson Rupert Colville told a Geneva briefing.

"In the last week alone, security forces have killed and burned to death 11 people, among them five minors, and rammed vehicles into protesters exercising their fundamental right to peaceful assembly."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday that the United States was outraged by reports that Myanmar soldiers rounded up and killed 11 people in the northwestern region of Sagaing.

There was no immediate reaction from Myanmar's military rulers to the accusations from the UN rights body.