At least eight killed in junta’s bloody crackdown in Aungban, Shan State

At least eight killed in junta’s bloody crackdown in Aungban, Shan State

A resident said armed forces used drones to monitor the crowd before opening fire on them

Men carry a wounded protester in Aungban, Shan State, on the morning of March 19 (Supplied)

At least eight anti-coup protesters were killed in Aungban, southern Shan State, during an attack by the military junta on demonstrations on Friday morning, according to the Aungban Free Funeral Service Society.

Sixteen military trucks carrying more than 100 policemen and soldiers arrived at the protest site at around 9:00 a.m. and began shooting at protesters. Seven died at the scene, and another protester who had been shot in the neck was taken to Kalaw Hospital and died by 11:00 a.m.

All eight victims were men. 

The body of the man who died at the hospital was sent to his family’s home, but those who were killed at the protest site were taken away by the junta’s armed forces, a representative of the Free Funeral Service Society told Myanmar Now. 

 

 

Aungban resident Nay Lynn Tun told Myanmar Now that police and soldiers had destroyed the doors of nearby homes in order to arrest people, and that at least 10 people had been detained. 

“Initially, police arrived at the site. When the crowd surrounded the police, armed soldiers arrived at the site and began firing,” he told Myanmar Now. “In the coming days, if we cannot gather to protest, we will do it in our own residential areas.”

 

 

Since March 13, around 300 volunteer night guards have watched over these residential areas to protect locals from the dangers posed by the junta’s nighttime raids. These forces use drone cameras to monitor the activities of the night guards from 3:00 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. every day, Nay Lynn Tun said. 

He added that hours before Friday’s crackdown, military and police had also used drone cameras to monitor the gathering of protesters in Aungban.

Over the last week, at least 11 protesters have been arrested in Aungban. Only three-- the protesters who were minors-- were released.

South of Shan State, in the Kayah State capital of Loikaw, two pro-democracy protesters were also shot with live ammunition by the regime’s armed forces on Friday. One, 46-year-old Kyan Aung, was shot in the lower abdomen and died from his injuries. The other wounded protester was a nurse, according to eyewitnesses. 

According to a March 18 tally by the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 224 people have been killed across the country by junta’s armed forces since the February 1 coup. Thousands more have been arrested. 

 

UN warns of ‘looming threat’ to Myanmar’s poorest as food and fuel prices spike in wake of coup 

Many in Myanmar may soon be unable to put enough food on the table if trends continue, World Food Programme official says 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 16, 2021
Opponents of the coup hold a candlelit vigil in Yangon on February 21 for protesters who have been killed and detained (Myanmar Now)

Rising food and fuel prices pose a “looming threat” to the poorest in Myanmar as the political unrest caused by the February 1 coup begins to affect supply chains, the United Nations has warned. 

The organisation’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that there had been “steep hikes” in the prices of staple goods in northern Rakhine state, with the average cost of cooking oil increasing 27% from January to February.  

The price of pulses in Maungdaw has jumped 15%, while rice prices have spiked by as much as 35% in some townships in Kachin state, such as Bhamo and Putao. Nationwide, rice prices have gone up by an average of 3%, the WFP said. 

And the price of fuel has increased 15% nationwide, which in turn may lead to further food price increases as the cost of transportation balloons. The problem is more severe in northern Rakhine, where petrol prices have jumped by 33% and diesel by 29%.

The WFP collected the data from 250 traders and shops across 70 townships nationwide. 

“These rising food and fuel prices are compounded by the near paralysis of the banking sector, slowdowns in remittances, and widespread limits on cash availability,” the WFP said in a statement. 

The programme’s Myanmar Country Director, Stephen Anderson, said the price increases were “troubling”. 

“Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, if these price trends continue they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.”

The WFP is stockpiling food to enable it to keep helping over 360,000 people in Myanmar, most of whom live in displacement camps.

Many parts of Myanmar’s economy have been brought to a standstill by strikes amid a massive popular uprising against the military regime. Foreign trade has virtually halted and banks have been forced to close their branches as employees refuse to work under the dictatorship.  

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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Military stops hundreds of Kachin State IDPs from reaching camp

Among the IDPs, currently sheltering in a church in the Myitsone area, are elderly persons and newborn infants. 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 16, 2021
A woman holds her baby after fleeing clashes between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military in Injangyang Township on March 15 (Supplied)

Around 200 civilians fleeing clashes between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were barred by the junta’s armed forces from entering a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina on Monday.  

Fighting has spread from the Kachin State townships of Hpakant to Mogaung to Injangyang since early March. 

A battle on Monday near the Injangyang villages of Gway Htaung and Tan Baung Yan forced 200 people from both communities to seek temporary refuge in a Catholic church in the village of Tang Hpre. 

Tang Hpre is in the Myitsone area, located on the Mali and N’mai rivers, which make up the confluence of the Irrawaddy River.

“The KIA attacked a [Myanmar] military base in Gway Htaung, Injangyang. The battle lasted from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.,” a local source said. “It seems like they [KIA] are trying to regain the bases that they’ve lost in the past.” 

During previous episodes of armed conflict in 2018, the IDPs had previously fled to Pa La Na camp in Myitkyina. Despite continued instability and tension in the region, they had returned to their respective villages in Injangyang during the Covid-19 pandemic to escape the crowded conditions in the IDP camp. 

As they tried to leave the church where they had been sheltering and in order to continue onward to the Pa La Na camp, regime soldiers stopped them, blocking the exit to Tang Hpre village and essentially trapping them in the community. 

Some IDPs crossed the Irrawaddy River in motorboats with the help of locals. Myanmar soldiers told those operating the motorboats to turn back to the Myitsone area with the IDPs by 5:00 p.m. on March 15, according to those who fled. 

“We were told that the Myanmar military has forbidden them from going to Pa La Na camp. They were told to stay where they are,” a local helping the IDPs told Myanmar Now. “They will be assisted with food supplies such as rice, cooking oil, and salt,” the person said, although at the time of reporting, it was not clear who would provide such necessities. 

Among displaced are children, including newborn infants and elderly persons unable to walk.  

Those who managed to arrive in Tang Hpre said more villagers from Tan Baung Yan were still hiding in the forest, unable to reach a safe place to shelter.  

The Myitsone area is the site of a now suspended China-backed hydropower mega-dam which has been widely opposed by the Kachin and Myanmar public

 

 

Myanmar Now

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Soldier shoots man in head at close range as junta continues crackdown

At least 12 were killed across the country on Monday as mobile internet was shut off and martial law imposed in areas of Yangon 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 15, 2021
Security forces seen in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township on Sunday during a brutal crackdown on protesters (Supplied)

The coup regime’s forces continued their murderous campaign to crush Myanmar’s pro-democracy uprising on Monday, killing at least 12 people in Yangon and other cities across the country, rescue teams and witnesses said.

The killings came a day after at least 63 people were slaughtered in Yangon alone, marking the bloodiest day so far since protests against Min Aung Hlaing’s rule began in early February. 

In Hlaing Tharyar, where most of Sunday's killings took place, a man in his 50s was picking up trash after a protest had dispersed on Monday when a soldier walked up to him, pressed a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. 

“They shot the old man in the temple. He died right there,” a witness told Myanmar Now.

Mobile internet access was cut across the country on Monday, making it more difficult for people to share information about the attacks. Six towships in Yangon, including Hlaing Tharyar, were also placed under martial law.

At around 3pm, some 40 trucks full of soldiers arrived at the Aung Zeya Bridge in Hlaing Tharyar to break up a demonstration, a protester who lives in the township said.

Two women in their 60s were killed as armed forces fired at people from Da Bin Shwe Htee Road, the resident said.

Their bodies were brought to a local hospital with an ambulance, as were three people injured during the shootings, he added.

‘Punish the perpetrators’ 

Fires raged at a number of Chinese-owned factories in Hlaing Tharyar on Sunday. No evidence has emerged about who was responsible. 

China’s Global Times reported that 32 factories with Chinese investors were vandalized in Yangon, with the damage amounting $36.89 million. Two Chinese employees were injured, the newspaper said. 

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar on Sunday called on people to express their demands lawfully and not be incited to undermine China-Myanmar relations.

“China urges Myanmar to take further effective measures to stop all acts of violence, punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law and ensure the safety of life and property of Chinese companies and personnel in Myanmar,” the statement said.

On Monday afternoon an official from a hospital in Yangon said four more people injured in Hlaing Tharyar on Sunday had passed away, bringing the total killed by the crackdown in the township on that day to 38. 

In Chanmya Tharzi, Mandalay, two anti-regime protesters were killed and several others were injured on Monday, according to medical workers.

The dead were identified as 26-year-old Than Htike Oo and 22-year-old Wai Phyo Thein. No further details were available at the time of reporting. 

Three others were killed in Myingyan, a township in Mandalay region. Rescue workers there said their vehicles were attacked and that they were unable to reach injured people because of the shooting. 

Two men - aged 25 and 30 - were killed in Aunglan, Magway region, according to a witness and a doctor. One was shot in the head and the other in the chest. The regime’s forces were deployed in front of the Aunglan police station and then fired on demonstrators, the witness said.

Driver shot through windscreen 

In Monywa, Sagaing region, about 2,500 people arrived from surrounding villages to protest against the regime. 

A 45-year-old man who was driving a truck full of protesters into the town was shot in the chest, a witness told Myanmar Now.

The victim was identified as Ko Zaw and police and soldiers took his body away, the witness said.

“They shot the front wheels first and then fired from the front. There were two bullet holes in the windscreen,” said Aung Myint Tun, a protester. 

About 30 protesters riding in the truck were also arrested, he said.

In Bago, police and soldiers shot people in residential areas, killing at least one, on Monday afternoon, a resident told Myanmar Now.

An 18-year-old boy who was shot in the head and pronounced dead at a hospital in Bago at around 7pm, the resident said.

A 40-year-old man is receiving treatment after he was shot while riding a motorbike in the town.

“[Soldiers and police] were on their way out of the neighbourhood and shot the man on a motorbike. I think it was a random shooting to scare people,” he said.

Monday’s confirmed deaths mean more than 160 have been killed so far, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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