Myanmar troops accused of burning alive 11 young villagers in ‘brazen revenge attack’

MYANMAR government troops rounded up civilians in a small northwestern village, bound their hands and burned them alive, according to witnesses and other reports.

A video of the aftermath of Tuesday’s attack showed the charred bodies of 11 victims, some believed to be teenagers, lying in a circle in what appeared to be the remains of a hut in Done Taw village in Sagaing region.

Myanmar has been gripped by civil war after the military ousted the civilian government in a coup this year.

The attack on the villagers was reported to be revenge for a rebel strike on a military convoy. Outrage spread as the graphic images were shared on social media over what appeared to be the latest of increasingly brutal military attacks in an attempt to put down stiffening anti-government resistance following the army takeover in February.

Human Rights Watch called for the international community to ensure that commanders who gave the order were added to targeted sanctions lists, and efforts are stepped up to cut off funding to the military.

“Our contacts are saying these were just boys and young people who were villagers who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Manny Maung from the group said. She added that similar incidents had been occurring regularly, but that this one happened to be caught on camera.

“This incident is quite brazen, and it happened in an area that was meant to be found, and seen, to scare people,” Ms Maung said.

The images could not be independently verified, but an account given by a man who said he was present when they were taken generally matched descriptions of the incident carried by independent Myanmar media.

The government has denied that it had any troops in the area.

The killings in Done Taw were decried by Myanmar’s underground National Unity Government.