MYANMAR Myanmar’s coup junta surrounds a church with mines and bombs a school

Army troops desecrated a Catholic religious building and attacked a primary school in a Buddhist monastic complex, killing 11 children. Official media claim that the civilian deaths were caused by resistance fighters, who use people as human shields. In reality, the military burned the bodies to hide a new crime.

Yangon ( / Agencies) – The troops of the Burmese coup junta desecrated a Catholic church, using it as a kitchen for their soldiers and surrounding it with mines after leaving it. Local sources informed UcaNews who occupied the Church of the Mother of God which is located in the city of Mobye, diocese of Pekhon, in the southern state of Shan. Two days ago, moreover, the junta’s aviation bombed a monastic primary school, killing 11 children. The soldiers burned the bodies to try to hide the traces of this new crime.

Since the coup d’état in February 2021 that overthrew the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese army has committed appalling aggression and violence against the civilian population, repeatedly attacking religious institutions – not only Christian ones – where the population seeks refuge during clashes.

In Mobye, fighting between army troops and anti-coup forces began two weeks ago. The soldiers left the church after a week, but before they left they mined the surrounding land. Resistance militiamen warned parishioners not to approach the church.

A video filmed by the anti-coup forces and broadcast on social networks shows the uniforms and kitchen utensils that the troops left at the scene. “The damage to the temple, which is a holy place, is a result of the devil’s attacks,” an exiled Burmese priest wrote on Facebook.

More than 5,000 civilians fled Mobye after airstrikes destroyed nearly 100 homes. They also attacked the city’s monastery a few days ago and two girls, ages 7 and 12, who had taken refuge there along with other people, were killed.

The diocese of Pekhon is one of the areas hardest hit by the Burmese junta’s attacks, along with the nearby town of Loikaw in Kayah state. Six parishes that have suffered repeated attacks are now completely uninhabited and more than 150,000 Christians have fled Kayah and Shan to take refuge in neighboring states.

On September 17, two Mi-35 helicopters bombed a monastic school in the village of Let Yet Kone, in the Sagaing region. Seven children died on the spot (4 more in the following hours) and another 17 people, including teachers and students, were injured. Residents of the area reported that the soldiers later forced the local population to cooperate in cremating the bodies in the village of Ye-U, where there is a military post.

“There were pools of blood inside the school. There were pieces of meat scattered everywhere, on the fans, on the walls and on the ceiling,” said a villager who went to check on the state of the school after the attack. “The parents of two children came to look for their children, but the only thing that was left was their clothes and they couldn’t even bury them.”

Burmese government media reported that resistance forces (the Kachin Independence Army and the People’s Defense Force) had been holed up in the school and village, and that civilians were killed because rebel militias used them as human shields. Local residents maintain that it was a unilateral attack by the regime.