Resistance Groups Bury More Than 30 Corpses Of Civilians Who Killed And Burned Due To Military Regime Attacks

JAKARTA - Myanmar's civil resistance group says it has buried the remains of more than 30 people who died and their bodies burned, as the UN Security Council calls for accountability and an immediate end to violence in the country.

Opposition activists blamed the Myanmar army for the Dec. 24 attack near Mo So village, Kayah State where aid group Save the Children said two of its staff were killed.

A junta spokesman had not yet commented on the attack, but state media in military-run Myanmar had previously reported soldiers had shot and killed a number of "terrorists with guns" in the village.

"We buried every body we found at the scene," said a commander of the Karenni National Defense Forces (KNDF), one of the largest civilian forces formed to oppose the February 1 military coup.

Photos uploaded online show KNDF members burying bodies in graves lined with concrete blocks. Flowers were strewn over the bodies and candles were lit beside the graves.

The commander, who declined to be named for security reasons, said while it was difficult to identify the bodies buried on Wednesday, he believed they belonged to Save the Children staff.

Meanwhile, a Save the Children spokesman declined to comment, but the group had previously confirmed that two of its workers, both young fathers, were killed in the attack.

The international community has expressed shock at the attack with the US embassy in Myanmar describing it as "barbaric".

Separately, in a press statement published on Wednesday, the UN Security Council said its members condemned the reported killings of at least 35 people, including four children and two Save the Children staff.

It said the Security Council stressed the need to ensure accountability for such actions, "calling for an immediate cessation of all violence and stressing the importance of respecting human rights and ensuring the safety of civilians."

In this regard, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said reports of killings of civilians, including at least one child, were credible.

"I condemn this sad incident and all attacks on civilians across the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law," he said in a statement last week, calling for a thorough and transparent investigation so the perpetrators could be brought to justice and calling for the protection of civilians.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military toppled the elected government led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some opponents of the military have taken up arms, sometimes joining ethnic minority guerrillas who have for years fought the government for self-determination in various parts of Myanmar, including Kayah State in the east.

Since the coup, more than 1,300 people have been killed by security forces and more than 11,000 have been jailed, according to a tally by rights group Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP). However, the military has denied the group's death toll, considering it an exaggeration.

The Myanmar Coup. VOI editors continue to unify the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Civilian casualties continued to fall. Readers can follow news about Myanmar's military coup by tapping this link.