The initial death toll from the dawn attacks on anti-regime strongholds in Bago was about 60, but the number of those slain has continued to grow as more details emerge.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoner (AAPP), which has been documenting the lists of fatalities and detention since the Feb.1 coup, now says that about 82 people were killed by the regime’s troops during the Bago raids.

Amid the killing in the town, residents of Bago staged an anti-regime protest on Saturday.

About 4 a.m. Friday, more than 250 military regime forces launched attacks on four residential wards—Shinsawpu, Hmawkan, Nantawyar and Ponnasu—of Bago, which is located 98 kilometers from Yangon.

While trying to remove roadblocks erected with sandbags by the anti-regime protesters, troops opened fire with automatic weapons and heavy explosives. The explosives are believed to have been rifle grenades, which were fired at anti-regime defense team members and night watchmen guarding protest assembly areas in the wards.

Photos show a tail of a rifle grenade and some unexploded-rifle grenades found by the residents.

As a result of the raids, dozens are still missing. Several people were injured and arrested, according to local residents.

As of Sunday, troops are still deployed in the wards and continue to fire live ammunition. Many of streets in the areas are still deserted. No one dares to go into the conflict areas. Many residents have already fled.

The funeral of social worker Ko Thhiha held in Bago on Saturday.

Most of the bodies of those killed in the dawn attacks have not been returned to their families. Return of the bodies has been complicated by the fact that some residents have left their homes because they fear arrest, according to local sources.

During the attack aimed at removing the roadblocks in Ponnasu ward, a 46-year-old night watch-man, Ko Myo Min, was shot dead by troops while he was fleeing the gunfire.

He left three children and his wife. The family had to hold his funeral urgently because security forces were searching for his dead body.

Before his death, Ko Myo Min asked his wife, Ma Kay Khine, not to send his children to school if the country remains under the control of the military regime.

“I feel deeply hurt. We all don’t want to live under dictatorship. Please help us,” Ma Kay Khine told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.

She also said that regime forces transferred the dead body of a man who was arrested on Friday to his family on Sunday, citing information from the man’s niece.

The man is believed to have been stabbed to death, based upon wounds found in his abdomen, Ma Kay Khine said, quoting the man’s niece.

On Friday, a social worker, Ko Thiha, was among the more than 80 who were shot or tortured to death by regime troops during the raids. Ko Thiha fled but was shot in the thigh while scaling a wall, according to a friend who was present.

The witness told The Irrawaddy that he saw soldiers beating Ko Thiha when he fell from the wall after being shot. The witness said his chest was bruised and there was a dent in his head.

The Bago University Student Union said that three university students—Ko Arkar Min Khant, a second-year zoology student, Ko Bo Bo Naing, a first-year zoology student, and Ko Kaung Kyaw Tun, 19, a first-year mathematics student—were killed during the raids.

Two university students—Ma Shwe Yi Aung and Ko Aung Kyaw Khant—are still missing, the student union said.

According to rescue organizations and U Ye Htut, who is one of the anti-regime strike leaders in the town, it was difficult to go into the raided areas to retrieve the bodies of the dead or to provide medical treatment for those wounded. Troops opened fire on everyone who appeared in the street or showed their faces at the windows of houses.

“This is not the action of cracking down on protests. I feel they are committing genocide on us because they opened fire on everything they saw,” said U Ye Htut. He faces an arrest warrant issued by the military regime.

Concerning the brutal raids in Bago, the United Nations in Myanmar on Saturday issued a statement calling for the immediate end of violence and demanding that security forces allow medical teams to treat the wounded.

On Sunday, some family members were reportedly asked for money by the authorities for retrieving the bodies of those killed in the Friday raids, according to residents.

However, The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm those reports independently.

As of Saturday, about 700 civilians have been killed by the military regimes during their raids, arrests and random gunfire. That total includes anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents.

Despite the intensified violence on the part of the military regime, tens of thousands of people continue to take to the streets to show their defiance of military dictatorship.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 11 April 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/death-toll-myanmar-regimes-latest-massacre-rises-details-emerge.html

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 Myanmar Regime Hunts Down Prominent Critics

Photos: Clockwise from top left: actor Pyay Ti Oo, actress Eaindra Kyaw Zin, actor Ye Tike, Ma Su Zarli Shein, women rights defender Daw Thin Thin Aung and monk Yaypu Sayadaw.

Some of Myanmar’s prominent actors, artists, activists, media personalities, doctors and Buddhist monks are among those recently detained, charged and sentenced by the military regime.

The junta issues a daily list of arrest warrants against its critics.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks detentions, the regime had detained more than 3,000 people by April 10 and issued arrest warrants for 656 people.

On Friday, actor Pyay Ti Oo and actress Eaindra Kyaw Zin, a celebrity couple, were arrested. Both academy award winners face incitement charges for opposing the regime. The couple publicly supported the civil disobedience movement against the junta.

Actors Lu Min, Ye Tike and Paing Takhon, renowned comedian Zaganar and beauty blogger Win Min Than were earlier detained.

Celebrity couple Pyay Ti Oo and Eaindra Kyaw Zin.

Women rights defender Daw Thin Thin Aung, co-founder of the Mizzima News Agency and Women’s League of Burma (WLB), was abducted by the regime’s forces on Thursday.

The WLB said in a statement that she was arrested in the evening of April 8 and taken to the notorious Yay Kyi Eaing Investigation Center.

“We are extremely concerned about the life and safety of Thin Thin Aung,” the group said, calling for her release.

A former member of Mizzima Media, ethnic Chin James Pu Thoure, was detained with her without facing any charges. Mizzima Media released a statement saying both had resigned from the organization after the February coup.

“Mizzima fears for the lives of both its former members and appeals for their early release,” it stated.

Friends said there is no news about them. More than 30 journalists are in detention.

In Hpa-an of Karen State, pediatrician Dr. Ohn Ohn Yi was abducted after she refused to treat a police officer’s child, Myanmar Now reported. The police sued the doctor under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code.

The 57-year-old, who retired from a government hospital but still runs a small clinic, posted that she had joined the civil disobedience movement and would not treat the children of soldiers and police who are killing unarmed civilians.

Doctors and clinics aiding those wounded by the regime’s forces are also being targeted. On Sunday morning, Dr. Wai Yan Myo Lwin, a physician providing free treatment at a charity clinic in Bago Region was detained, news outlets in Bago reported.

The clinic was jointly run by Dr. Nay Myo, who was detained on April 2.

On Saturday, Yaypu Sayadaw, a senior Buddhist monk in the ruby hub Mogoke in Mandalay Region, was sentenced to three years in prison along with around 25 laymen. They were detained during a violent crackdown on anti-regime protests in the town.

Yaypu Sayadaw was seized while trying to stop police brutality against protesters and forced to disrobe while in detention.

On Thursday the regime’s forces raided the Pan Pyo Iatt monastery in Bago Region, which has a well-known philanthropic school for orphans and impoverished children.

The Bago media reported that soldiers and police forced monastery guests to kneel and five of them were taken away.

The monastery confirmed the raid, saying the monastery’s abbot, Asin Pyin Nyaw Bha Tha, fled to India after the raid.

“The school is in good condition, except for facing financial problems for the monks’ alms as the key to the safe was confiscated,” the Friday statement said. The Irrawaddy could not contact the monastery for an update.

To evade arrest, many activists, protest leaders and striking government staff are in hiding.

The regime is increasingly detaining the relatives and friends of those in hiding.

On Tuesday, the girlfriend and two friends of Kyaw Ko Ko, a former All Burma Federation of Student Unions chair, were arrested at a checkpoint near Naypyitaw, as the activist went into hiding to evade arrest.

Ma Su Zarli Shein, Ko Myo Myint Tun and Ko Ngwar Ja were traveling from Yangon to Kayah State for work reasons.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 11 April 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regime-hunts-prominent-critics.html

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 At Least 60 Killed During Myanmar Regime’s Massacre at Anti-Regime Strongholds

At least 60 people were gunned down in Bago Friday in a brutal assault on anti-regime strongholds by troops loyal to the military regime.

An accurate death toll was impossible, but the actual number of those killed was believed to be much higher.

Troops sprayed live rounds of ammunition and fired powerful explosives toward the strongholds’ defensive lines all day.

The troops launched their raids in three wards—Shinsawpu, Hmawkan and Nantawyar—of Bago, which is north of Yangon.

The attack targeted areas which had been fortified with roadblocks and sandbags to deter advancing troops. The assault began early in the morning.

The Friday offensive by the regime’s troops in Bago was the third deadly attack on protesters this week.

Security forces killed at least a dozen protesters in the town of Kalay and another dozen in the town of Taze. Both are upcountry towns in Sagaing Region which have been anti-regime strongholds. During the attacks, police and soldiers reportedly used powerful explosives, firing grenades to blast fortifed barricades.

A young protester who asked not to be named said they had been under attack with volleys of gunfire as well as explosives beginning at 5 a.m. and continuing throughout the day.

A resident in the area said they didn’t even dare to look out of their windows. “They shoot everything that moves,” the resident said.

The young protester added: “We were surrounded on all sides. We could not even collect the bodies of our fellow protesters who were shot.”

Other witnesses confirmed his statement and said they saw soldiers dragging away those who had been gunned down and throwing them into a dump truck. Many suspected that some of the wounded were dumped alongside the dead in the truck.

A monastery compound was reportedly used as a makeshift morgue to pile the corpses.

Based on witnesses’ accounts of the number being taken away, the toll was at least 59. Family members were asked to retrieve three bodies at a hospital on Saturday morning.

The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is also documenting the lists of fatalities and detention, said 62 people are confirmed dead.

That would push the total protest-related death toll to 680 as of Friday.

However, local people said the number killed in Bago is likely to be much higher, perhaps more than 80.

Some of those wounded were taken away, and an accurate death toll was impossible because rescue workers were threatened with being shot if they ventured out. On Saturday, residents claimed that they saw piles of bodies at the town’s Sin Phyu Kwin cemetery.

Local rescue workers and volunteers have been threatened since late March, and the public hospital has been taken over by soldiers and police, residents said.

The young protester said, “We have been unable to use the local rescue vehicles since 15 days ago. Since late March, when the protesters were shot dead, the families of the victims have been told to collect the bodies for funeral after the military took them.”

Due to the troops’ relentless shooting into residential neighborhoods, people fled to the nearby countryside Friday afternoon, afraid of being hit by stray bullets.

On Saturday, residents said, troops patrolled the streets of the town and were removing some of the remaining road barricades.

Despite the bloodshed, the regime continues to insist that its troops are not allowed to use live ammunition and that troops are following codes of conduct and protocols for crowd control.

During a press conference on Friday, regime spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun downplayed the actions of security forces when asked about the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

“If the protesters were shot with automatic assault rifles, the 500 people you mentioned could have been killed in a few hours,” he said.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 10 April 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/least-60-killed-myanmar-regimes-massacre-anti-regime-strongholds.html

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