Girl of 11 among 114 shot dead by Myanmar army
A GIRL of 11 was among more than 100 civilians killed by troops in Myanmar over the weekend.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab yesterday said the regime had plunged to a ‘new low’ over the killings in which many innocent people were shot by indiscriminate sniper fire.
The 11-year-old, Aye Myat Thu, was one of 114 people killed on Saturday – the bloodiest day since the start of the military coup.
Myanmar’s military junta had warned protesters would be ‘shot in the head’ if they demonstrated during the country’s armed forces day.
Last night it emerged that more than 3,000 had fled from Myanmar across the border to Thailand to escape the violence. Children were among the villagers seen sheltering from the threat of air strikes as they escaped. As protests continued yesterday, Mr Raab said the killing of unarmed civilians ‘marks a new low’.
He said: ‘We will work with our international partners to end this senseless violence, hold those responsible to account, and secure a path back to democracy.’
Dan Chugg, the British ambassador in the city of Yangon, said that the ‘security forces have disgraced themselves by shooting unarmed civilians’.
The European Union’s delegation to Myanmar declared that the 76th armed forces day was ‘a day of terror and dishonour’, adding: ‘The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts.’
The coup started on February 1 when the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government. Suppression of the resistance against the junta has grown steadily more forceful, and with it so has the death toll.