Two people working for Save the Children have gone missing after a massacre in eastern Myanmar that left more than 30 people dead, the international aid group has said.
Photos of the aftermath of the Christmas Eve killings in Mo So village, just outside Hpruso township in Kayah state, spread on social media in the country, fuelling outrage against the military that took power in February after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The photos showed the charred bodies of more than 30 people including women and children in three burnt-out vehicles. Local reports, which could not be verified, said they had been shot by government troops as they were fleeing combat.
The UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, said he was “horrified” by credible reports of the killings and demanded the government launch an investigation.
“I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.
“I call upon the authorities to immediately commence a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident so that perpetrators can be swiftly brought to justice.”
The US embassy in Myanmar said it was appalled by the “barbaric attack in Kayah state that killed at least 35 civilians, including women and children”. “We will continue to press for accountability for the perpetrators of the ongoing campaign of violence against the people of Burma,” it said.
Save the Children, which is suspending its operations in the country, said two of its staff who were travelling home for the holidays after conducting humanitarian response work in a nearby community had been “caught up in the incident and remain missing”.
“We have confirmation that their private vehicle was attacked and burned out,” the group added. “The military reportedly forced people from their cars, arrested some, killed others and burned their bodies.”
A villager who said he had gone to the scene told the Associated Press that the victims had fled the fighting between armed resistance groups and Myanmar’s army near Koi Ngan village, which is just beside Mo So, on Friday. He said they had been killed after they were arrested by troops while heading to refugee camps in the western part of the township.
The government has not commented on the allegations but a report in the state-run Myanma Alinn daily newspaper on Saturday said the fighting near Mo So had broken out on Friday when members of ethnic guerrilla forces, known as the Karenni National Progressive party, and those opposed to the military drove in “suspicious” vehicles and attacked security forces after refusing to stop.
The newspaper report said they included new members who were going to attend training to fight the army, and that the seven vehicles they were in had been destroyed in a fire. It gave no further details about the killings.
The witness told the AP the remains were burned beyond recognition, and children’s and women’s clothes were found together with medical supplies and food. “The bodies were tied with ropes before being set on fire,” said the witness.
He did not see the moment they were killed but said he believed some of them were Mo So villagers who reportedly got arrested by troops on Friday. He denied that those captured were members of locally organised militia groups.
Myanmar’s independent media reported on Friday that 10 Mo So villagers including children were arrested by the army. The media said that four members of the local paramilitary Border Guard Forces who went to negotiate for their release were reportedly tied up and shot in the head by the military.
The witness said the villagers and anti-government militia groups had left the bodies as military troops arrived near Mo So while the bodies were being prepared for cremation.
“It’s a heinous crime and the worst incident during Christmas,” said Banyar Khun Aung, director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. “We strongly condemn that massacre as a crime against humanity.”
Fighting resumed at the weekend on the border with Thailand, where thousands of people have fled to seek shelter. Local officials said Myanmar’s military had unleashed airstrikes and heavy artillery on Lay Kay Kaw, a small town controlled by ethnic Karen guerrillas in neighbouring Kayin state, since Friday.
The governor of Thailand’s Tak province, Somchai Charoenkitroongroj, told reporters that about 4,700 evacuees from Myanmar were in three shelters across the border. Sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard across the river dividing the countries.
He ordered five border districts to prepare supplies and secure places to receive more refugees from Myanmar.
Myanmar’s military’s action prompted multiple western governments including the United States to issue a joint statement condemning “serious human rights violations committed by the military regime across the country”.
“We call on the regime to immediately cease its indiscriminate attacks in Karen state and throughout the country, and to ensure the safety of all civilians in line with international law,” the joint statement said.
With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
