June 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A Burmese military spokesman, General Zaw Min Tun, has confirmed that army troops killed the abbot of the Win Neinmitayon monastery, Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, a former member of the State Sangha Nayaka Committee, the country’s highest religious authority, in an incident in Tada -U, in the Mandalay region.
The 78-year-old monk died last Wednesday after his vehicle was shot at in an area where, according to the military version, there had been clashes between the military and pro-democratic militias, according to the pro-government portal The Global-New Light of Myanmar.
The soldiers who were traveling in a truck believed that there were insurgent militiamen in the monk’s vehicle and that is why they opened fire, according to the military statement.
“The security forces hit the vehicle from a truck and then fired a warning shot to make it stop. The security forces opened fire on the moving vehicle from behind,” he said, before announcing that there will be an investigation into the happened.
The military regime thus changes the version maintained until now, which attributed the death of the monk to the rebel militias. Another monk present denied this version from the first moment.
The incident occurred near Mandalay International Airport and another monk, the abbot of the Kanthonhsint Buddhist learning center in Yangon, and the driver of the vehicle were also injured.
The Burmese military junta has ruled the country with an iron fist since the February 2021 coup, suppressing any resistance with brutal force and repeatedly attacking locations from the air. Ethnic and pro-democratic militias have allied themselves and have achieved important victories against the military forces.
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