Category: ASEAN

Artillery and landmine blasts have killed at least 51 civilians and severely injured 122 others, including more than 20 children, over the past two months in seven Myanmar states and regions where the military is fighting armed opposition groups, according to reporting by RFA Burmese. The incidents occurred between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 this year in Magway, Sagaing, and Bago regions, and Kayin, Kayah, Chin, and Rakhine states, RFA learned in a series of interviews with family members, rights groups, and anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries. Nine children were among those killed and a dozen others were left with severe injuries that included lost limbs from the blasts, which sources said were mostly the result of junta troops firing artillery into villages and landmines triggered near residential areas, farms, and camps for people displaced by violence. RFA’s research found that the number of deaths and injuries from such incidents in the seven regions and states increased from 21 and 46 in August to 30 and 76 in September. The toll does not include the number of deaths and injuries resulting from junta airstrikes, bombings, and gunfire from troops on the ground. In one of the incidents documented by RFA, a seven-year-old child named Maung Gyi was killed on Sept. 25 when an artillery round hit his home in Na Ga Yar village, in Rakhine state’s Kyauktaw township. The uncle of the boy, also known as Moung Ko Naing, told RFA that the shell was fired by junta troops from the 9th Military Operations Command (MOC-9) in Kyauktaw at around 11 p.m. that evening. “The roof of the house was destroyed by the explosion,” he said. “A shell fragment from the artillery blast hit Kyaw Maung’s son who was in the house. He was killed on the spot.” The incident in Na Ga Yar came just four days after a shell fired by MOC-9 injured four members of a family in the same village, sources said, and amid increased clashes between junta troops and ethnic Arakan Army (AA) insurgents following a two-year lull. The fighting in Rakhine has claimed the lives of eight civilians and injured 24 others over the past two months. In compiling data for this report, RFA found that the highest number of casualties from artillery and landmines occurred in Kayah and Rakhine states, as well as Sagaing and Bago regions. The four states and regions accounted for 40 deaths and 95 injuries in August and September, or nearly 80 percent of the total number of casualties. An elderly Rakhine man is carried by fellow villagers after he was injured by a landmine believed to be buried by the junta troops in a village in Kyauktaw, Rakhine state on Sept. 8, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Indiscriminate attacks Banyar, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG), told RFA he had seen a substantial increase in the number of casualties in Kayah state after junta troops changed from using more precise, defensive tactics to random, offensive ones. “At first, the troops planted landmines in the vicinity of their camp, but now we see them planting several landmines wherever they go. They clearly intend to hurt civilians,” he said. “For example, we have seen the landmines they planted on roads leading to homes, in residential compounds and near the stairs of houses.” Banyar said the military also used to exclusively shell areas where there was ongoing fighting. “These days, they don’t appear to have any specific target and fire at random,” he said. “Sometimes, they fire shells to blanket an entire area. These shells fall and explode around civilians and cause severe casualties.” RFA’s research found that PDF troops also regularly use artillery and landmines to target the military, although none of the incidents documented for this report were attributed to such attacks. Myo Thura Ko Ko, the spokesperson of anti-junta Cobra Military Column, which engages with the military on a nearly daily basis in Kayin state, told RFA that his group is “careful when firing artillery to avoid civilian casualties.” “We … fire artillery with accuracy and care,” he said, adding that Cobra fighters “only use the kind of mines that won’t harm the civilians.” Myo Thura Ko Ko claimed that his group had “never caused any civilian casualties,” while junta troops “target civilians.” Calls by RFA seeking comment from junta Deputy Information Minister Major General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Friday. However, in May, the spokesman rejected claims that the military has targeted civilian areas with artillery. He said, at the time, that only PDF fighters plant landmines near villages and on roads, while the military only uses landmines to defend camp positions. Stronger response needed Min Zaw Oo, executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS), said the relevant authorities should take action against those who are responsible for civilian casualties, regardless of which side they are on. “Whenever there are violations that cause harm to civilians, the relevant armed group should take effective action,” he said. “It is necessary to have mechanisms for investigation and prosecution in place to respond to these kinds of violations. They will only continue if such mechanisms are weak.” Research compiled by MIPS found that a total of 4,398 civilians died from artillery blasts, landmine explosions, death by torture, shootings and targeted killings, in the more than 20 months since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup. RFA also contacted UNICEF and the United Nations refugee agency via email seeking comment on the situation of civilian casualties in Myanmar, but had yet to receive a response by the time of publishing. London-based Amnesty International said in July that junta troops are committing war crimes through their indiscriminate use of landmines – mostly locally made M-14 and MM-2 landmines that have been banned by international treaties. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Authorities under the junta’s Ministry of Home Affairs have transferred dozens of political prisoners from Myanmar’s Insein Prison in Yangon to a facility infamous for its poor treatment of inmates, RFA has learned, prompting concern from family members for their well-being. Prison Department authorities transferred the estimated 250 political prisoners to western Bago region’s Tharyarwaddy Prison – where former inmates have reported being subjected to torture and other forms of abuse – on Sept. 24, relatives told RFA Burmese, adding that they were never informed of the move. Former political prisoners say transferring inmates to prisons such as Tharyarwaddy, where they have little access to family members and are subjected to poor treatment, is a tactic the junta uses to punish them for their activism and break their spirit. A family member of journalist and political prisoner Nyein Nyein Aye, who was among those transferred to Tharyarwaddy last month, said they were worried about her safety and status at the new prison. “I got a surprise phone call informing me they were transferring her to a new location. I was shaken,” said the family member of the reporter, also known as Mabel, who is serving a three-year sentence for allegedly violating the country’s Counterterrorism Law. “Tharwaddy is not close to where we live. It will be very difficult to send her packages. I later learned that she was forced to move abruptly and had to leave all her belongings … She has to buy all of her personal items at the new location. It will be very difficult for her.” Another relative of a political prisoner, who declined to be named, said getting packages to inmates at Tharyarwaddy is significantly more complicated. “We need to present a copy of our national ID card and list of family members issued by Immigration Department to prove we are related to the prisoner,” they said. “A family member must then go in-person to deliver the package. It is challenging because now they are in another region. I can’t travel there every month to do that because I don’t have enough money.” Additionally, the relative said, there is no guarantee that inmates will even receive what is sent to them, as the staff at Tharyarwaddy are known to steal the contents of packages. “I cooked enough food for a month, but [my relative] didn’t receive all of it. I was told they only received four of the 15 packages I sent,” they said. When asked by RFA about the conditions at Tharyarwaddy, Deputy Director General of the Prison Department Naing Win dismissed the allegations. “We currently have some regulations for health reasons, so all packages are kept at a facility associated with the prison. We process and inspect them and then forward them on,” he said. “They can file a complaint to us if they have problems sending packages. We are doing our best to facilitate the process. We have never violated their rights or made the prisoner’s lives harder.” Police security forces guard Tharrawaddy Prison on Aug. 4, 2015. Credit: RFA Reports of abuse In addition to concerns over personal property, there have been reports of political prisoners being mistreated, physically abused, and even tortured at Tharyarwaddy. In July, authorities transferred more than 60 political prisoners to Tharyarwaddy from Hpa-An Prison in Kayin state. Sources told RFA that upon their arrival, the inmates were forced to sit in uncomfortable positions and later beaten, leaving several with severe injuries. Mar Kee, a former student activist and prisoner of conscience who served time in Tharyarwaddy Prison during the 1980s told RFA that it is one of Myanmar’s worst detention centers. “During our time, the prison had severe restrictions and life was very tough … We had to fight for our rights as they forced political prisoners to perform hard labor with the other inmates and we endured torture there,” he said. “We heard conditions improved after ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) staff visited the prison. I assume the current situation there might not be as bad as in our time. But it won’t be as good as the time immediately following the ICRC visit.” Mar Kee said political prisoners who staff at other prisons had singled out as “troublemakers” were immediately subjected to physical abuse upon their arrival at Tharyarwaddy, and often placed in solitary confinement. ‘Their intent is clear’ Former political prisoner Win Zaw Naing told RFA that the junta is following the playbook of Myanmar’s previous military regime in dealing with prisoners of conscience by sending them to Thayarwaddy and prisons in remote locations, where they have less access to family members and are forced to endure harsh conditions. “Their intent is clear,” he said. “They want to subject political prisoners to hardships.” Win Zaw Naing said authorities also intend to “punish the family members” by transferring political prisoners to far flung locations where they lose contact with their loved ones for months at a time. “Their hope is to hurt both the prisoners and their relatives outside the prison,” he said. Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) says that authorities in Myanmar have arrested nearly 16,000 people since last year’s coup – mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests. More than 12,500 remain in detention, the group says. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

On Sept. 16, 2022, at least seven minors were killed when military aircraft fired on a village school in Sagaing region in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on children in Myanmar since last year’s coup. UNICEF condemned the attack in Tabayin township’s Let Yet Kone village and put the death toll even higher, saying at least 11 children died “in an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas.” It said at least 15 other children from the same school were still missing. Residents of Tabayin township told RFA Burmese after the attack that the helicopters fired on the school “for nearly an hour” before junta foot soldiers let loose with guns. They claimed the nearly 80 troops who raided the school belonged to Light Infantry Battalion 368, under the 10th Military Operations Command based in Kyi Kone village, in Sagaing’s Kale township. Two weeks later, a schoolteacher who survived the raid told RFA Burmese reporter Nayrein Kyaw of the terrifying incident she witnessed that day. Now in hiding, her name has been withheld due to security concerns. RFA: Can you describe the events that took place on Sept. 16? Schoolteacher: It must have been about 12:50 p.m. Ko Aung Saw Htway, who helped us with the computer at our school, told me planes were coming our way, so I yelled out a warning to the young teachers at the primary classes and … herded the children to the ground floor of the [nearby] monastery to hide. The moment we got there, a teacher said [a boy] was hit in the leg. A young teacher then brought some children over to me and told me she had been hit by a bullet in the thigh. I saw her face was covered in blood. Just then, a child who was crouching near me was hit in the neck by shrapnel. All her hair was cut off. The shooting went on for an hour or so. The place was hit by heavy weapons as well as machine gun fire. And then soldiers, with bamboo baskets on their backs, entered the compound and reached the place where we were hiding. Then they fired their weapons towards the small [stupa] in the compound. Some soldiers ordered us to come out and said we must come out with heads bowed. “If you look at us, you’re dead,” one of them said. I glanced towards the primary classrooms and saw children coming out. It was heart wrenching to see small kids covered in blood, some with head wounds, others with leg wounds, some hit in the back, and one hit in the eye. I tried to look for my children. I have three attending this school. I saw my eldest [daughter] and youngest [son], but I couldn’t find my middle child. My daughter’s clothes were completely soaked in blood, and I asked her if she was OK. She said her friend Win Win Khine was hit in the belly and all of her intestines were falling out. She said there were many dead in the classroom. And then my son, the middle child, ran to me crying. He was crying out his friend’s name, Maung Hpone. The boy was one of our neighbors. A school bag lies next to dried blood stains on the floor of a school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an airstrike hit the school. Very soon the boy’s mother arrived crying. The soldiers asked her why she was coming this way and she said her son was hit and she wanted to find him. I heard one of the soldiers saying into his radio, “Stop it, that’s enough,” and the firing stopped. We asked them to let us give water to the children and treat Maung Hpone. When I saw him, his arm was missing and there were holes in his feet. His face was all black. He was saying over and over, “Mother, I am in so much pain, please kill me now.” I remembered a wounded girl I hid under a huge bed. She was also badly wounded. I told the soldiers to pull her out. She was laid on the bed and I could see all the blood on her face and body. She was half conscious. She had been hit in the head and legs. The soldiers said, “If you don’t want these children to die, we want two people who can drive to come forward.” One of the volunteer teachers came forward and said he could drive. The soldiers also asked the head monk for some [big plastic] bags and I saw them putting the bodies and body parts of those killed into them. They also took the seriously wounded children with them. On the way out, they shot all the men they saw in the village in the heads. RFA: What kind of aircraft were they using? Jet fighters or helicopters? Schoolteacher: People said there were both. Two helicopters were dropping soldiers while the two fighters opened fire on the village. A damaged roof and ceiling are seen at a school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an airstrike hit the school. Credit: Associated Press ‘They should investigate first’ RFA: So how many children and how many adults were killed in the attack? Schoolteacher: Four students died instantly and another one died in the hospital, so altogether five students. And then two teenagers were killed outside the school which makes a total of seven students. Six [adult] villagers were killed too. So the death toll was 13. RFA: How many were taken away by the soldiers? Schoolteacher: Altogether 11 students and teachers were taken away. Two men who drove the cars and another four villagers were also abducted.  RFA: Has anyone been released yet? Schoolteacher: No, none of them have been released yet….