The Myanmar army killed 30 civilians, and three Buddhist monks, at a monastery in Nam Hnain village in Pinlaung township in Shan State at 4pm on Saturday.
Earlier that day, at around 11am, the army – or junta – carried out air strikes and shelling on the village, where Pa’O refugees were reported to be sheltering, burning down around 50 houses.
The victims had been reportedly hiding in the monastery after being displaced from their properties.
Local resistance group, the Karreni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), released graphic and bloody photographs of piles of our bodies, with multiple gunshot wounds, a few of the victims wearing orange Buddhist robes.
Chindwin News Agency stories that the KNDF said…
“The junta asked all the individuals who took shelter in the monastery to come out and brutally shot all of them.”
A KNDF spokesperson told the Kantarawaddy Times…
“It was like that Burma Army made them line up in entrance of the monastery and brutally shot all of them, including the monks.”
Aerial photos of the airstrike aftermath image the village consumed by fires and huge clouds of smoke.
Fighting between Treasure and defence forces has been occurring for round two weeks in Pinlaung Township, with heavy preventing breaking out between the junta and People’s Defence Force (PDF) on Thursday, reports BNI Online.
Thousands of people in Pinlaung township have been displaced.
On Friday, the day before the bloodbath, BNI Online wrote an article entitled, “Ongoing conflict persists in Pinlaung, Shan State.” BNI Online reported…
“Since February twenty fourth, ongoing conflicts have taken place between Military Council Troops and the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) and the PDF.
“The conflicts have resulted within the loss of four civilian lives and the destruction of many homes. The area still stays in turmoil and the preventing continues unabated.”
The Irrawaddy tweeted today that some 15 villages in Pinlaung and Pekon townships on the border of Shan and Kayah states have been compelled to flee their homes as a result of junta raids since late February.
Since the junta seized energy over Myanmar greater than two years ago, Shan State – bordering Thailand – has seen a number of the worst violence..