Fighting between the Myanmar army and anti-junta rebels has flared up in recent days, with local people in one village saying on Saturday that 14 people were killed in a single raid.
Deadly violence has engulfed Myanmar since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February 2021 and unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent that has left thousands dead.
The junta has been battling anti-coup “People’s Defense Force” militias and long-established ethnic rebel armies that control large areas of territory near the country’s borders.
Two people from Sone Chaung village in Sagaing–a hotbed of opposition to junta rule–told Agence France-Presse the army had killed 14 people in a raid in the early hours of Friday morning.
The villagers, who both spoke on condition of anonymity, said the army came looking for PDF leaders.
Earlier this month, the US secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told southeast Asian ministers that Washington and regional states must pressure the junta to put an end to violence and return to democracy.
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