According to local human rights group and media reports, more than 30 people, including women and children, have been killed and their bodies burned in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Kayah state.
The Karenni Human rights Group which first reported the incident, said it found the “burned bodies of internally displaced people, including elderly people, women and children – killed by the military rulers of Myanmar, near Mo So village of Hpruso town on Saturday.”
“We strongly denounce the inhumane and brutal killing which violates human rights,” the group said in a Facebook post.
State media also reported the Myanmar military saying it had shot and killed an unspecified number of “terrorists with weapons” from the opposition armed forces in the village.
The people, according to the military, were in seven vehicles and did not stop for the soldiers when it was flagged.
However, photos shared by the human rights group and local media showed the charred remains of bodies on burned-out truckbeds.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, one of the largest of several civilian militias opposing the generals who led a February 1 coup, said the dead were not their members but civilians seeking refuge from the conflict
