Anti-junta guerillas carry guns while providing security for a protest in Monywa on Sunday (Than Kyaw Oo)

The Pyu Saw Htee militiamen set up explosives around the guerillas’ dead bodies, a local activist said 

By Myanmar Now

Members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia shot and killed five resistance fighters who were acting as lookouts for an anti-junta rally in the Sagaing Region township of Monywa on Sunday.

The militiamen attacked as the guerillas were “discreetly” keeping watch in Ku Taw Palin village, about eight miles south of the site of the protest in Monywa, so they could alert the demonstrators in case junta forces were headed their way.

“Nobody from the protest column was injured and the protest was a success,” said Arkar, a member of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee. “but five of our comrades on guard duty were taken and killed by the Pyu Saw Htee group.”

The Pyu Saw Htee militiamen were from the nearby village of Taw Pu, he added.

“I think they were found and captured while they were discreetly standing guard. We thought they had escaped but we found out about their deaths when we saw the photos of their bodies,” he said, referring to images that circulated on social media.

The victims were aged between 20 and 27, he said, adding that it has not been possible to retrieve their bodies because Pyu Saw Htee members set up explosives around the area where they were killed.

Than Kyaw Oo, another member of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee, wrote on his Facebook page that the militiamen were told the guerillas’ location by an informant.

“They knew exactly where they were because of an informant. They were brutally shot and killed after they were taken,” he said.

During Sunday’s rally, other guerilla fighters carried rifles as they marched alongside demonstrators. More anti-dictatorship protests went ahead in the Sagaing townships of Salingyi and Kalay on Sunday.

The junta has cut off internet access to much of Sagaing as its forces carry out a scorched-earth campaign of arson, torture, and massacres in a bid to stamp out the resistance.

Original Post: Myanmar Now