No fewer than 10 anti-junta fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with the military in central Myanmar yesterday as locals increasingly take up arms against the regime in the coup-wracked country.
Africa Today News, New York understands that Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup that removed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, with 890 people killed in a junta crackdown on dissent.
However, in some areas civilians have formed ‘defence forces’ to combat the State Administration Council, as the junta dubs itself, often using hunting rifles or makeshift weapons cobbled together from household items.
The central Sagaing region has been the site of multiple skirmishes between defence forces and the military, and on Friday fighting broke out in Depayin township.
Residents told newsmen that military trucks entered their area and opened fire on a village near the jungle hoping to flush out members of the local defence force.
“We heard the shooting of artillery 26 times,” said a villager, who added that anti-junta fighters tried to retaliate but could not fend off the attack.
‘They shot everyone who they saw on the road and in the village. They did not just have one target,’ he said.
Civilians were among the dead, he added.
Villagers waited until Saturday to venture out of their homes to assess the casualties, said another witness, who helped to collect the bodies around Depayin township.
‘We found in one place eight people were killed, and in another area two were dead,’ he said.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK