During the first half of November, pictures of “Myanmar government troops killing two villagers in Ke See” have been spreading on the internet. These were pictures of Nong Khio-based government troops killing two villagers from Pang Ze village, Ke See township, central Shan State in 2011, according to local sources.

The Burma army troops and the villagers who are being killed

On August 10, 2011 the Nong Khio based Burma Army LIB 114 under the command of Battalion 55 based in Kalaw, Southern Shan State, carried out a major offensive targeting the bases of the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) around Ta Pha Saung, Ke See township. During their military operation, they found a villager called Loong Mon by a stream and killed him. After that, they arrested another village, Sai Tun Khin, tied him to a tree and killed him by slitting his throat, according to one of the local villagers.

“The day that they were arrested and killed was on August 10th 2011. One of the Burmese soldiers from the group that had returned from seizing the SSPP/SSA base came to that village and asked the villagers to go and check whether the man that was killed was one of their villagers or not. That Burmese soldier said: the man said he was from this village, but when we asked him the name of the head monk of this village temple, he couldn’t tell us. So our commanding officer said he is a Shan soldier and on his orders that man was killed,” said a local leader who prefers to remain unnamed.

After the Burma Army troops left the village, the villagers and the local monks went to collect the two villagers’ dead bodies and buried them, conducting a religious ceremony.

“We get these photos from some of the electronic devices and computers that we seized from the Burma Army troops. These photos were taken by the Burmese soldiers themselves. One of the civilians who was killed, Sai Tun Kin, was a porter for the Burmese troops. During the fighting he fled from the Burma Army and came to our troops. That was when we were being attacked and retreating from a position, so we were in a rush and asked him to flee to a safer place and return to the village he came from. Since he was not a soldier, it was not appropriate to take him with our troops, and at that time there was shooting going on. But we found out that he was amongst the two civilians killed, when we went to the funeral in the village, and I felt really bad,” said Major Sai Tip from SSPP/SSA.

Extrajudicial killing by the Burma Army is continuing till today. On October 3rd, 2014, five Burma Army trucks led by a Mongyai based Burma Army commander were ambushed by SSPP/SSA soldiers in Loi Kyu Ji. Soon after that, this column of Burma Army troops met two civilians, a village head man named Sai Moon (belonging to the Wa ethnic group), and a villager of Wan Loi village, Meng Pat tract, Tang Yan township, named Sai Shwe. The Burmese soldiers shot them and burnt their motorbikes. According to Nam Pao villagers, the two villagers who were shot and killed were cattle tradesmen.

The government army carried out a major offensive operation against SSPP/SSA in 2011, and another in October 2014. During their last major operation, the Burma Army seized the base of SSPP/SSA in Ta Pha Saung, in Pan Ze tract, Ke See township.