Three civilians killed as junta continues crackdown on Karenni resistance

Regime forces killed three civilians in Kayah (Karenni) State’s Demoso Township on Thursday as efforts to crush an uprising by resistance fighters in the area continue.

The latest deaths come nearly a week after clashes between the Myanmar military and the Karenni People’s Defence Force (KPDF) began last Friday.

Junta forces killed nine civilians earlier in the week as part of an ongoing crackdown on the local anti-coup resistance movement. 

Two of the civilians killed on Thursday were shot while trying to gather food and other supplies for villagers displaced by the conflict. 

Some 50,000 residents of Demoso and other townships in northern Kayah State and southern Shan State have been forced to flee amid anti-insurgent operations in the area.

The victims, Alfred Ludu and Patrick Boe Reh, were killed in Demoso’s Ngu Palot ward, according to a KPDF member who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

“They couldn’t gather all the supplies they needed at one time. When they went back a second time, some soldiers who were in a house they entered shot them,” he said.

Funerals were held for the pair immediately after their families recovered their bodies, according to information released by the KPDF on social media.

Later in the day, a clash lasting about half an hour broke out on the eastern side of Demoso, near the Ngwe Taung dam, a local resident told Myanmar Now.

All Lo Sein, a 24-year-old member of the Free Burma Rangers who was also known as Olson, was killed while attempting to rescue civilians trapped in the crossfire, the local said, adding that two villagers and a KPDF member were also shot.

“The KPDF member was rescued but we don’t know where the two injured villagers are now. We can’t find them,” he said.

The KPDF urged residents of Demoso to remain indoors as the military opened fire with artillery after the clash.

Army shelling on Wednesday caused damage to Demoso’s St Joseph Catholic Church, just days after an attack on the Sacred Heart Church in Kayan Tharyar, a village in Loikaw Township, left four people dead and eight others injured on Monday.   

The victims of that assault were among dozens of civilians sheltering in the church after fleeing clashes over the weekend.

Cardinal Charles Bo, the archbishop of Yangon, called for an end to attacks on places of worship, which he described as “a great humanitarian tragedy” in a statement on Tuesday.

“Let us remember the blood that is spilled is not some enemy’s blood; those who died and those who were wounded are the citizens of this country. They were not armed; they were inside the church to protect their families,” said the cardinal.

At least 831 civilians have been killed by the regime since it seized power on February 1, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.