Myanmar: Security forces open fire at a funeral
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The horrific incident took place in Bago town near Yangon
In an unimaginable act of cruelty, Myanmar security forces on Sunday opened fire at a funeral, witnesses said. This comes just a day after security forces killed 114 protesters. The incident of securitymen firing at funeral took place in the town of Bago near Yangon.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, said Reuters.
"While we are singing the revolution song for him, security forces just arrived and shot at us," said a woman called Aye, who was at the service for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old student who was shot on Saturday. "People, including us, run away as they opened fire."
In a separate firing incident, two people were killed in firing on protests. One person was killed when troops opened fire overnight on a group of protesters near the capital Naypyitaw, Myanmar Now news reported.
Till Sunday afternoon, there were no reports of large-scale protests in Yangon or Mandalay. These cities saw large number of killings on Saturday. Funerals were held in many places.
At least six children between the ages of 10 and 16 were among those killed on Saturday, according to news reports and witnesses.
The bloodshed drew renewed Western condemnation. The U.N. Special Rapporteur for Myanmar said the army was carrying out "mass murder" and called on the world to isolate the junta and halt its access to weapons.
Foreign criticism and sanctions imposed by some Western nations have failed so far to sway the military leaders, as have almost daily protests around the country since the junta took power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We salute our heroes who sacrificed lives during this revolution and We Must Win This REVOLUTION," one of the main protest groups, the General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN), posted on Facebook.
Saturday also brought some of the heaviest fighting since the coup between the army and the ethnic armed groups that control swathes of the country.
Military jets had killed at least three people in a raid on a village controlled by an armed group from the Karen minority, a civil society group said on Sunday, after the Karen National Union faction earlier said it had overrun an army post near the Thai border, killing 10 people. The air strikes sent villagers fleeing into the jungle.
(With Reuters inputs)