Atrocities in Southeast Asia Myanmar are not receding: the bodies of more than 30 people have been found, according to reports. The military government has confirmed only fatalities in the fighting.
In eastern Myanmar, the remains of about 30 people were found in burnt-out cars, according to reports from rebels and an NGO. Pictures on Saturday were circulated to online services that said they showed two trucks and a car with the bodies.
A rebel official and an NGO accused the army of killing people. The aid organization Save the Children reported that two of its staff were missing after the incident.
A representative of the rebel group fighting the ruling military council, the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), said their fighters found the vehicles in Habrosu municipality in eastern Kayah state. He told AFP that the body contained 27 bodies.
Another witness said that “27 skulls” had been discovered, “but there were other bodies in the truck so charred that we couldn’t count them.” According to the Myanmar Witnesses Observatory, “35 people, including children and women, were burned and killed by the army on December 24.”
Organization employee missing assistance
The NGO Save the Children has announced that two of its staff are missing. “We have confirmation that your private car was attacked and set on fire,” the organization said. The two aides were on their way back from a humanitarian mission in the area. According to its data, the NGO suspended its work in several regions.
Military council spokesman Zaw Min Tun said clashes erupted in Hebroso on Friday after soldiers tried to stop seven “suspicious” cars. The spokesman said, without elaborating, that several people had been killed.
Shortly after Myanmar’s democratic transition, the military returned to power in a coup in February. Since then, protests have erupted across the country, killing more than 1,300 people and arresting more than ten thousand when they were suppressed. More than 20 rebel groups are fighting the army in the country.