Local residents have reported that the military forces in Nattalin Township, Bago Region, have killed two civilians and dumped their bodies by the roadside. The incident occurred around 3 AM on March 12, when soldiers from the Taungnyoe Police Station arrived in a civilian vehicle near Sharsaybo village. The bodies were found with tags identifying them as victims of the ‘Black Death Messenger’ group, a tactic commonly used by the military to disguise their actions.
The victims were identified as residents from Kwin San and Saung Htwet villages, and sources from the Thayarwaddy District PDF (People’s Defense Force) have confirmed that neither of the victims were members of resistance forces. A PDF official stated that while the military council had released statements claiming the victims were PDF members, none of their forces were reported missing. This incident follows a pattern of similar acts where the military forces have killed civilians and attempted to attribute the deaths to resistance groups by leaving false identifications on the bodies.
The Thayarwaddy District PDF spokesperson emphasized that this is part of an ongoing campaign of violence against civilians by the military council. They are currently investigating to establish the complete identities of the victims and gather more details about the circumstances of their deaths. The local community has strongly condemned these brutal killings of innocent civilians, which represent another instance of the military council’s continued use of violence against its own people. The practice of staging killings to appear as if they were carried out by resistance forces has been documented multiple times in the region, demonstrating the military’s systematic approach to terrorizing civilian populations.
