At least 12 died across the country on Thursday as the coup regime unleashed more savage attacks on protesters, part of a campaign to terrorize the population into submission in response to a massive popular uprising that threatens to remove the military from power.  

The majority of the confirmed deaths were in Myaing, Magway region, where police used guns to murder at least seven protesters and injure 10 others. 

Police started by arresting three people after a crowd gathered in downtown Myaing early in the morning. When protesters began calling for their release, police fired tear gas grenades and shot three people dead. 

“Then an hour later they shot again. Seven were killed in total,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now on Thursday afternoon. 

“One of the protesters was shot near the groin. Another was shot in the head. The right side of his head was blown apart from the impact of the bullet,” said a protester who witnessed the shootings 

All seven people killed were men; the oldest was 36 and there were three who were younger than 30, residents who saw the bodies at the morgue said. Three were from the town of Myaing and four were from nearby villages. 

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A policeman was heard on video forcing a man to say a murdered protester died by falling and hitting his head in Mandaly on March 11. (Supplied)

Ordered to shoot 

Locals said that until Thursday the police response to protests in Myaing had been relatively restrained. 

“On previous days the police negotiated with the protesters, asking them to not go out and protest today,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now. “They warned them that they were given the order to shoot. This is the first time there has been a crackdown with shooting in Myaing. They didn’t shoot or arrest anyone in the days prior.”

Immediately after Thursday’s shootings, he added, locals were told that military trucks were arriving in Myaing from Pakokku, where Light Infantry Division 101 is based along with Light Infantry Battalions 235 and 251. 

In Mandalay, police fired on a column of protesters led by Buddhist monks from the city’s Mya Taung monastery, killing one man and injuring others. Htet Tayza Aung, one of the Mya Taung marchers, was shot in the leg. 

“When we reached the front of the Ko Lone Tagar pagoda on 90th street, they shot at us at least a dozen times,” he told Myanmar Now. 

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The body of a protester killed in North Dago on March 11 (Supplied)

‘Not able to save him’

“They also threw tear gas grenades,” he added. “A man just fell in front of me and [police] picked him up. We were not able to save him as we were also being shot.”

A video filmed later and seen by Myanmar Now showed a soldier forcing a man to say on camera that the protester had died from falling and hitting his head. 

In Myingyan, Mandalay region, a  22-year-old man died on Thursday after being shot in the eye during a crackdown the day before, BBC Burmese reported. 

In Yangon, Chin Min Thu, 25, was killed when the regime’s forces attacked a protest in North Dagon township. He was shot in the head and died on the spot. 

He is survived by his wife and three-year-old child, said a member of a local volunteer organisation. “He went out at 10am, he took shields and joined the protest column,” the volunteer said. “At around 10:30am, we heard that a live bullet shot by the police broke through his shield and hit his head.” 

Chin Min Thu’s body was taken to his home and the hospital hasn’t issued a death certificate, the volunteer added. 

In Bago, one man was shot dead and another severely injured as police shot live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at a column of “Spring Revolution” protesters, said Myo Ko, a protest leader.

“One was killed and another was injured so badly we could see the bone,” he told Myanmar Now.

“The one who died was shot in the head. We are still trying to identify who he was, but as far as we know he was deaf and mute and in middle age. His head was broken; people saw parts of his cranium left behind in his hat.” 

According to Myo Ko, the crackdown began when about 20 trucks and cars arrived

“They blocked us from everywhere, and they used tear gas grenades and live bullets. Students and others who ran into nearby houses were also arrested as they checked the household registrations, and the ones who were hiding were beaten and arrested.” 

There was also a confirmed report that a man in Dawei, in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region, had been shot dead by security forces.

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