Shot in the Back

According to eyewitness testimony reported by Myanmar Now and Mandalay Free Press, six unarmed internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in the Myat Saw Nyi Naung pagoda compound near Kan Pyar (ကန်ပြား) village [22.034370, 95.613166] were shot by military forces on the afternoon of 6 June 2022. 

Myanmar Witness was able to geolocate and verify fire damage and images of corpses with graphic injuries in Kan Pyar (ကန်ပြား) on 6 June 2022, consistent with eyewitness reporting of the shooting of those individuals and burning of civilian infrastructure by the Myanmar military.

Key Event Details

• Location of Incident: North of Kan Pyar (ကန်ပြား) [22.034370, 95.613166], Myinmu (မြင်းမူ) Township, Sagaing (စစ်ကိုင်း).

• Date/Time of Incident: 06 June 2022, circa 1330 local time.

• Alleged Perpetrator(s) and/or Involvement: The Myanmar military (no further specification at this time).

Myanmar Witness Conclusions:

• Myanmar Witness geolocated footage of four dead bodies, two with severe injuries consistent with bullet wounds, to the pagoda compound where the incident reportedly took place. The bodies were in civilian clothes; no weapons were visible.

• The images show possible exit wounds on the fronts of two bodies; consistent with eyewitness testimony that they were shot in the back. The precise details of their deaths cannot be confirmed through open-source methods.

• Myanmar Witness verified footage showing burnt motorcycles and buildings at the site of the incident, as reported by eyewitnesses. NASA FIRMS shows fires at 13.45 on 6 June – 15 minutes after soldiers allegedly entered the village.

• Myanmar Witness has pulled together a timeline indicating an active military presence in the area. This includes third party reports of military movements consistent with eyewitness testimony regarding the military presence in Kan Pyar (ကန်ပြား) on the day of the incident. However, there was no verifiable footage of the military in the area at the time of the incident.

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