Residents in central Myanmar made a grisly discovery on Wednesday when they stumbled upon the corpses of six civilians who worked at a local motorbike repair shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their bodies bore signs of torture and their hands had been tied behind their backs, apparently executed by junta troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt appeared as if [the soldiers] struck their necks with a sword. We found that their throats were cut,\u201d said a resident of Ywar Thit village in the Mandalay region who was among those that found the bodies. He spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal by the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos provided to RFA of the bodies appeared to confirm the source\u2019s description. All six of the men\u2019s hands are bound and their throats are slit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three of the men have wounds to their throats that suggest they were made with a heavy weapon, such as a machete, while a fourth has a similar wound on the top-left of his head that has penetrated his skull. The heads of two of the men appear to have been crushed, while the chests of two others show as many as eight stab wounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No political affiliation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The source said two of the bodies were found between Myingyan\u2019s Thar Paung and Gaung Kwe villages, another two near the intersection of Thin Pyun Road on the outskirts of Natogyi township, and the last two just west of Natogyi\u2019s Ywar Gyi village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe cuts of the bodies found west of Ywar Gyi village and those near Thar Paung village were exactly the same,\u201d he said. \u201cIt appeared to me that the junta soldiers made them kneel, tied their hands behind their backs, and delivered a blow to their necks when they were tired of torturing them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The victims were \u201cinnocent civilians\u201d who were employed by a local motorbike repair shop, said a resident of Ywar Thit village, who also declined to be named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[They] were just simple villagers who weren\u2019t involved in any political activities,\u201d he said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t members of any political parties or organizations \u2026 But the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia and junta troops arrested and cruelly killed them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The junta has yet to release any information about the killings of the six men. Attempts by RFA to contact the junta\u2019s spokesman for Mandalay region, Thien Htay, went unanswered on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources from the two townships identified the six dead as Min Thu and Kaung Kaung, both 20; Aung Than Kyaw and Zayar Phyo, both 30; and Aung Naing Win and Zaw Naing Win, both 43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflicting terror<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Residents said that the discovery of the bodies followed a Nov. 29 raid on Ywar Thit village in which junta troops from the No. 88 Light Infantry Division and members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia detained six civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The families of the deceased retrieved their bodies on Wednesday from the Myingyan township mortuary and buried them in the township\u2019s Su Phyu Kone cemetery, residents told RFA. Due to the graphic nature of their deaths, family members were unable to inspect the bodies of the victims and confirm their identities, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A political activist in Myingyan township, who gave his surname as Soe, told RFA that the junta hopes to gain control of the region through fear by arresting and killing innocent civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen they lose their military bases and informers [to anti-junta forces], or suffer losses in battles, they attack unarmed civilians as revenge, since they cannot crush the resistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMyingyan-based junta troops and the \u2026 pro-junta militia try to cow the people by torturing and killing innocent civilians they accuse of being supporters of the [deposed National League for Democracy] NLD party and [anti-junta] People\u2019s Defense Forces [paramilitaries],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn fact, as they cannot crush the armed resistance, they are abducting and killing innocent and unarmed civilians who become caught in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Thailand\u2019s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), junta troops have killed at least 2,604 civilians and arrested more than 16,500 others in the 22 months since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Radio Free Asia –Copyright \u00a9 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE\/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"