Villagers in central Myanmar recovered the bodies of six people who were stabbed to death, locals told Radio Free Asia. On Friday, junta troops arrested the group in Mandalay region on suspicion of being resistance fighters in local People’s Defense Forces.
The victims are from Madaya and Patheingyi townships, including 25-year-old Min Nge Tar, as well as Thaung Yin and Poe Htaw, who were both about 40 years old and from Kin village. Three brothers, 18-year-old Ko Tun, 22-year-old Ko Pyone and 25-year-old Ko Mone, from Patheingyi’s Tha Yet Kaing village were also killed.
On Saturday, a dead body with stab wounds was found near Tha Yet Kaing village, a Kin villager who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals told RFA.
“When [junta soldiers] asked them where they were from, they said that they were from Kin village. So [the first three men] were arrested and accused of being in People's Defense Forces,” he said. “The three brothers from Tha Yet Kaing village were arrested for riding a motorcycle with three men. The next day, all the bodies were found in the same place.”
In Sagaing, Yangon and Mandalay regions, the military regime has placed tight restrictions on men riding motorbikes in an effort to reduce attacks from resistance groups.
Junta troops often raid Kin village on suspicion of hiding resistance fighters, so some of the residents have left the village, locals told RFA. To avoid suspicion, some men and their families have moved closer to Tha Yet Kaing village, which is about 6.5 kilometers (four miles) away from Kin village.
The three Kin villagers who were arrested and killed are people who moved with their families close to Tha Yet Kaing village and were fleeing the junta’s raids, they added.
Calls by RFA to Mandalay region’s junta spokesperson Thein Htay went unanswered on Tuesday.
On Thursday, fighting near Pin Lel Inn village attracted the presence of a junta convoy. The group arrested 11 men who were sitting in a tea shop in Aung Kan Thar village and another man from Pwe Sar Kone village. Junta soldiers shot and killed all 12 men, locals said.
As of Nov. 20, nearly 4,200 civilians have been killed across the country after the 2021 military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.