No fewer than eight people were shot dead on Monday as the junta’s troops continued to launch deadly crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The latest killings pushed the protest-related death toll since the Feb. 1 coup to at least 460.

On Monday, Yangon’s South Dagon Township saw at least four deaths due to intensified gunfire. The area has been under martial law since the middle of the month, and it has been a flashpoint for fatal confrontations between the protesters and security forces for days.

Some residents said soldiers and police were reported to have used explosives to quell the protesters on Monday in South Dagon. They said piles of sandbags used to block security forces from their advancement were blown up when hit.

“One [protester] was hit in his chest. But we still can’t retrieve his body [because] soldiers are still there. Another was shot in the head,” said a resident of 55 Ward, one of the hard-hit areas in the township.

However, the military-owned Myawady Television maintained that security forces had to take action as “rioters” were trying to destroy a concrete bridge in the area and said only one man was wounded when soldiers and police used crowd control methods to disperse the protesters.

Thanlyin, a town across the Yangon River, experienced another bloody day as two protesters were hit in the head when soldiers and police sprayed live rounds on civilians about 4 p.m. The number of people wounded can’t be confirmed because there were soldiers and police still patrolling the roads, blocking people’s access to hospitals, local residents said.

In Yangon’s Thaketa Township, one man was shot dead about 11:30 a.m. when the regime’s troops opened fire on demonstrators who have been intensifying protests in the area since the weekend in spite of previous fatal crackdowns.

Like their counterparts in other areas across the country, a small number of protesters were armed with Molotov cocktails and slingshots, taking up arms against the regime’s brutal repression. But the majority were peaceful.

In Bago, a town 50 miles north of Yangon, one protester was shot dead and another wounded during a crackdown.

On Monday, after the weekend massacre by regime forces in Myanmar that took the lives of more than 100 in a single day on Saturday, the UN office in Myanmar flew its flag at half-mast “to honor and remember those who have lost their lives in Myanmar since 1^st February, while exercising their inalienable human rights to the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.”

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 29 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/pace-bloodshed-slows-monday-myanmar-juntas-weekend-massacre.html

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 About a Dozen Children Killed by Myanmar Regime Over Bloody Weekend

About 12 children were among at least 127 killed across Myanmar by the military regime’s forces over the weekend, bringing the total number of children killed to more than 30 since Feb. 1.

The death toll of minors reached more than 20 last week, with a girl three months past her sixth birthday and a 14-year-old boy killed in Mandalay. The total number of children killed could climb higher as the ages of several victims could not be confirmed.

In a brutal crackdown on democracy protesters on Saturday, 11 minors were shot dead, many of them while playing inside or in front of their homes. Saturday was the bloodiest day since the coup was launched, with more than 100 people killed in a 24-hour period.

One of those slain was Aye Myat Thu, a little girl who was playing in front of her house in Mon State’s capital Mawlamyine when she was shot in the head. She was buried on Sunday. Her drawing of a Hello Kitty picture, color pencils and toys were put inside her coffin.

In Sagaing region’s Shwebo, 13-year-old Htoo Myat Win was shot dead while playing around his home. In video footage, his grieving father held his son in his arms while crying, “My son, my son was shot. He was killed.” He was about to take Shinbyu novitiation, an essential and integral part of the life of a Myanmar Buddhist male under the age of 20.

Another 13-year-old boy, Sai Wai Yan, was shot in the head by regime forces on Saturday. He was playing in his neighborhood and when soldiers and police raided the area, he ran back to his home. On his way home, he was shot and his body taken away in a military vehicle. The family retrieved the body of the boy only on Sunday for the funeral.

At least three children were killed in Mandalay region, including Hein Win Tun, 14, in Myingyan, Pann Ei Phyu, 14, in Meikhtila and Wai Phyo Naung, 16, in Amarapura.

Ayeyarwady region also saw three minors lose their lives on Saturday in Pathein Township. Those who were killed are Thwr Har, a.k.a, Htet Myat Thwin, Lwin Ko and Myo Han. All were 16.

In Muse, Shan State, the regime’s forces took the body of Ye Yint Naing, 16, a Muslim youth, after they shot him. They burned the body without the family’s consent.

Yan Paing Oo, a 17-year-old, was killed in Shwepyithar ward in Kawthaung of Tanintharyi region on Saturday. Locals reported he was shot dead at close range.

A one-year-old in Yangon and a five-year-old in Mandalay survived gunshots as soldiers and police opened fire indiscriminately while conducting raids on residences Saturday. The one-year-old was hit in one eye with a rubber bullet, and the five-year-old was hit in the head. Both had to undergo surgery.

On Sunday, a two-year-old was reported to have been seriously wounded by a gunshot to her ear in South Dagon Township, Yangon, as the junta’s forces stormed into the area at night.

A 16-year-old boy was reportedly shot dead in Monywa of Sagaing region on Sunday.

Save The Children said in an official statement on March 23, the fact that children continue to be among the targets of these fatal attacks on peaceful protesters is horrifying.

“The death of these children is especially concerning given that they reportedly were killed while being at home, where they should have been safe from harm. The fact that so many children are being killed on an almost daily basis now shows a complete disregard for human life by security forces,” it added, calling on security forces to end deadly attacks against protesters immediately.

As of Sunday, about 500 people have been killed by the military regime’s forces and more than 2,500 people were arrested.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 29 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/dozen-children-killed-myanmar-regime-bloody-weekend.html

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 Striking Civil Servant Shot Dead by Myanmar Security Forces

A striking government employee of the Ayeyarwady Region Parliament Office was shot dead on Sunday evening, after security forces fired live rounds in residential wards in the Ayeyarwady Region capital Pathein.

As of Sunday, at least 452 civilian anti-coup protesters have been killed in crackdowns by the military regime.

Ko Zin Lin Aung, 26, was shot in the throat around 9 pm on Sunday while he was on night watch at a makeshift barricade on a main road set up by local residents to prevent security forces from entering residential wards. He died immediately. Two other people were injured in the shooting.

“There is a barricade on Bantbwegon Street to prevent the security forces from coming into the wards. He was on night watch there last night and the security forces opened fired with live rounds. A bullet hit his throat and he died on the spot,” said a family member of Ko Zin Lin Aung.

“Security forces fired shots in nearby wards before they came to our barricade. Ko Zin Lin Aung was holding a steel shield. The bullet penetrated his shield and hit his throat. After the shooting, the security forces demolished the barricade,” said a Pathein resident who was present at the barricade.

Security forces also rampaged through wards and shot at anyone on the streets, said local residents. Seven civilians have died during crackdowns on anti-regime protesters in Pathein, which is the headquarters of the military’s South-Western Command.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 29 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/dozen-children-killed-myanmar-regime-bloody-weekend.html

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 Weekend Bloodshed Continues to Push Myanmar Death Toll Higher

Myanmar saw 23 more deaths at the hands of the military junta’s forces Saturday night and Sunday.

That number is expected to rise because several people were seriously wounded during the security forces’ shooting spree on Sunday.

During the crackdown on protesters, the military regime’s forces have used not only live rounds but also hand grenades.

As of Sunday, Myanmar’s protest-related death toll was at least 452.

Amid the country’s bloodiest day Sunday, when more than 100 were killed, tens of thousands of people across the country continued to take to the streets to show their defiance of the regime.

Myanmar’s military regime continued its brutal attacks on demonstrators in several cities across Myanmar including Hpakant, the jade-mining hub in Kachin State in the country’s north to Monywa, Kale, Mandalay, Myingyan, Bago, Pathein, Yangon’s South Dagon and Taunggyi in Shan State.

After a young anti-regime protester was killed by a grenade attack on Saturday, the regime’s forces continued to use hand grenades while randomly firing live rounds on an anti-regime protest in Yangon’s Hlaing Township on Sunday morning.

During the attack, one civilian lost his left hand in a grenade explosion and suffered additional wounds to his body. Another civilian was wounded in the leg by a grenade explosion.

In Mandalay Region’s Myingyan, junta’s security forces used civilian vehicles and motorbikes as they randomly fired on anti-regime protesters.

During the shooting, a young female anti-regime protester, Ma Zin Mar Aung, 24, and a man were slain by security forces. The regime’s gunmen also opened fire for no reason on a civilian vehicle carrying a woman and children in the afternoon, killing a man and wounding the driver.

A photo also shows two members of the security forces disguised in civilian clothes wielding firearms while riding a motorbike in the town.

Photo shows two members of security forces with civilian clothes wielding firearms were using a motorbike in attacking people in Mandalay’s Myingyan Township on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, a 38-year-old ethnic Chin woman, Ah Khu a leader of civil society group Women for Justice based in Sagaing Region’s Kale township, was slain by security forces during a crackdown against an anti-regime protest in the town. Another three men were also killed by the junta’s forces.

A resident told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that Ah Khu was deliberately shot by two security forces dressed in civilian clothes.

Another five people, including a female nursing student assisting the wounded, were shot dead by the junta’s forces in a deadly assault against an anti-regime protest in Sagaing Region’s Monywa.

A man carries the body of a nursing student who was shot dead while assisting the injured during shooting by police and soldiers against anti-regime protests in Sagaing Region’s Monywa on Sunday.

In Yangon’s South Dagon Township, two people, including a young female AYA Bank staff member named Ma Khine Zar Thwe, were slain by security forces Sunday.

At least four others were killed by security forces during night raids at Pathein, Mandalay and Yangon’s Thaketa Township and Naypyitaw’s Tatkon.
The anti-regime protest is attacked by security forces in Yangon’s South Dagon Township on Sunday.

U Aye Ko, 40-year-old neighborhood watch member, was burned alive after being wounded by gunfire from security forces in Mandalay on Saturday night.

The funeral of a student union member shot dead on Saturday was attacked by the junta’s police and soldiers at Bago Region’s Phaya-Gyi Town on Sunday morning. Security forces opened fire and tried to arrest those attending the funeral.

Adding to the Saturday massacre, three ethnic Karen villagers were killed by a retributive airstrike by Myanmar’s military against the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of Karen Nation Union (KNU), in Karen State. A civilian was also killed by an artillery shell in a punishing attack against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State’s Hpakant.

Amid the continuous deadly crackdowns by the junta, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets to protest against the military rule.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 28 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/weekend-bloodshed-continues-push-myanmar-death-toll-higher.html

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 Wounded Mandalay Volunteer Burned Alive by Myanmar Regime

A neighborhood watch member was burned alive after being injured by gunfire from Myanmar’s security forces in Aungmyethazan Township, Mandalay, on Saturday night.

Residents said soldiers raided Mintae Eikin ward on Saturday night after the ward administrative office was burned.

During the raid, U Aye Ko, 40, was left behind after being shot. He was dragged away and set on fire at a roadblock by the junta’s forces, witnesses told the media.

Residents said they were unable to rescue the volunteer as soldiers were deploying in the area, threatening to shoot anyone who approached.

The remains of neighborhood watch member U Aye Ko, who was burned alive by the military junta’s forces in Mandalay’s Aungmyethazan Township on Saturday night. / CJ

Around 40 houses were also reportedly burned in Mandalay Region’s Pyigyitagon Township after midnight.

Residents were prevented from helping their neighbors – who were banging pots and pans – put out the fires by soldiers.

A resident told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that regime forces fired warning shots to stop residents reaching the fires.

Some fire engines were allowed to put out the fires.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 28 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/wounded-mandalay-volunteer-burned-alive-by-myanmar-regime.html

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