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BBC investigation unearths Myanmar mass killings

TBP Desk  
20 Dec 2021 16:36:27 | Update: 20 Dec 2021 21:26:59
BBC investigation unearths Myanmar mass killings
— Courtesy/ The Google Map

A recent BBC investigation published on Monday found that the Myanmar military carried out a series of mass killings of civilians in July that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men.  

Video footage and images from the incidents appears to show most of them were tortured first to death and then buried in shallow graves, reports BBC.  

Some soldiers as young as 17, rounded up villagers before separating the men and killing them, Eyewitnesses and survivors said.   

The killings took place in July, in four separate incidents in the Kani Township.

A spokesman for the military government did not deny the allegations.

The military seized the power in February after deposing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since then, the military has been facing resistance from civilians.

The BBC spoke to 11 witnesses in Kani and compared their accounts with mobile phone footage and photographs collected by Myanmar Witness, a UK-based NGO that investigates human rights abuses in the country.

At least 14 men were tortured or beaten to death and their bodies were thrown in a forested gully in the largest killing that took place in Yin village.

The witnesses in Yin told the BBC that the men were tied up with ropes and beaten before they were killed.

BBC did not reveal the identity of those witnesses considering their safety issue.

"We couldn't stand to watch it so we kept our heads down, crying," said one woman, whose brother, nephew and brother-in-law were killed.

"We begged them not to do it. They didn't care. They asked the women, 'Are your husbands among them? If they are, do your last rites'."

The soldiers inflicted horrifying abuse on the men for hours before they died, a man who managed to escape said to the BBC.  

The survivor also said they were tied up, beaten with stones and rifle butts and tortured all day.

In late July, 12 mutilated bodies were found buried in shallow mass graves, including a small body, possibly a child, and the body of a disabled Person in nearby Zee Bin Dwin village.

Foreign journalists have been barred from reporting in Myanmar since the coup, and most non-state media outlets have been shut down, making on-the-ground reporting all but impossible.

Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Information and military spokesperson, General Zaw Min Tun did not deny the allegations.

He said it can happen when the mass community consider us to be their enemy.

 

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