ABSDF: Burmese Army Kills Village W

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Subject: ABSDF: Burmese Army Kills Village Women and Injures Others 

Media Release
October 22, 1998

Burmese Army Kills Village Women and Injures Others in Pegu
Division

Burmese army units shot two women to death at point-blank range
in Burma on October 13, 1998 for their alleged connection with
the Karen National Union (KNU).

The two women, Daw Hla Myint, 45 and Ma Ah Nyo, 15, both ethnic
Burmans, were killed when an army unit led by Captain Maung Maung
Toe from Infantry Regiment 59 arrived at the village of Aung Chan
Tha, in Kyaukkyi township, Pegu (Bago) Division.

According to a villager from Aung Chan Tha village, the army was
acting on information that the two women were sheltering KNU
guerrillas.  The Burmese soldiers first threw a hand-grenade at
the house and then fired indiscriminately at it.

Neither Daw Hla Myint nor Ma Ah Nyo were injured during the
shooting. However, the soldiers found the women when they
searched the house.  They were taken to a forest near the village
and shot at point-blank range. One of Daw Hla Myint's children
was injured in the attack.

Daw Hla Myint's husband, U Hla Kyi, is in Taunggoo Prison,
serving a three-year sentence under the Illegal Association Act
for allegedly having contact with the KNU.

Foreign Affairs Secretary for the All Burma Students' Democratic
Front, Aung Naing Oo, said that such killings by the army in
ethnic areas are rampant.

"Extra-judicial killings of innocent villagers by the Burmese
army are ubiquitous in ethnic minority areas, yet no perpetrators
have been punished. The soldiers have a license to kill and the
villagers have no form of protection whatsoever." 

In this case, it should be noted that not only ethnic minorities
but also Burmans are being killed by the army."  

On the same day, Burmese army troops from Infantry Regiment 73
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel San Myint Oo shot 10
villagers harvesting in fields near Nawlino village. Two
villagers, Saw Ketayel, 20, and Saw Tokeetoo, 30, were seriously
wounded from the shooting. The army arrested one villager, Saw
Jimmy. News of his fate or whereabouts is not yet known.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

For more information please contact 10-253 9082, 01-654 4984