Myanmar military soldiers raided a home in the Sagaing Region town of Kalay over the weekend, killing four members of a family and injuring another, local residents said.
Ten soldiers arrived at the house in Nyaung Pin Thar ward at around 8pm on Saturday. They shot Win Zaw Oo, 50, and his 23-year-old son, Thiha Aung, after they emerged from their home.
They then went inside and shot Zaw Zaw, 35, and San San Maw, 48, who were Win Zaw Oo’s brother-in-law and wife respectively. They also shot and injured his daughter, San Shwe Oo. The reason for the attack is unclear.
The military has denied the killings and blamed “NLD supporters and terrorists”. The family had business ties to military authorities in the town through a sawmill that they owned, but maintained good relations with residents, locals said.
Thirty minutes after the shooting, six cars including a Toyota Mark II sedan, a Toyota Hilux Surf jeep, and a military-issue FAW arrived to take away the bodies and other items, locals said, adding that the cars left around 12:30am.
“They took the bodies, some rice bags, cooking oil and furniture. They destroyed all the CCTV cameras,” a local resident told Myanmar Now. “By the looks of the uniforms and the wraps on their necks, and the cars that followed, it was the military.”
The Kalay branch of the People’s Defense Force issued a statement on Sunday saying it had nothing to do with the killings and that the military regime must take responsibility for what it had done.
A report on the killings published in military-owned newspapers on Monday said that NLD supporters were committing “inhumane assassinations” and bombings meant to “intimidate the people living in peace.”
The killers of Win Zaw Oo and his family would be identified and punished, the report said.
Win Zaw Oo was shot in the left side of his chest. His wife, son and brother-in-law were shot in the face, back and chest, while his daughter was shot in the stomach and sent to a military hospital for treatment, the report added.
The four bodies were brought back to the family home on Sunday at around 10am. They were buried at the Doe Wine Chaung cemetery that evening.
