BANGKOK (TIP): Myanmar‘s military-controlled government is accusing pro-democracy fighters of killing 15 civilians in a nighttime mortar attack in a restive central area of the country, charges denied by the guerrilla group. A report on July 6 in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper said so-called People’s Defense Forces attacked the village of Ngwe Twin in the southern part of the Sagaing region at 4 a.m. Wednesday with handmade mortars, killing 15 people and injuring seven others, including three monks.
Loosely organized armed PDF groups have sprung up around the country since the military seized power from democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb.1, 2021.
The groups support the pro-democracy National Unity Government, a shadow civilian administration opposed to military rule, though they operate autonomously from it.
The NUG did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the attack.
Since the military’s seizure of power, widespread peaceful opposition to the takeover has shifted to armed resistance in many parts of the country and the PDF groups have allied themselves with several armed ethnic minority groups that have been fighting for greater autonomy in Myanmar for decades.
In response, the army has launched brutal counter-insurgency operations in the countryside, including burning villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Sagaing, Myanmar’s historic heartland, is a stronghold of armed resistance to the ruling military but the village of Ngwe Twin is one of the few seen as sympathetic to the government, where residents reportedly were assisting in the army’s counter-insurgency operations.
(AP)