(CNN)Zin Ko Ko Zaw, 22, killed by a bullet to the head. Ma “Angel” Kyal Sin, 19, fatally shot in the head. Nay Myo Aung, 16, killed by a bullet that pierced his lung.
These are just three of more than 54 people believed to have been killed by Myanmar’s military junta since countrywide peaceful protest against the February 1 coup began.
The lethal wounds and bullet holes puncturing the bodies of the young people, as seen in photographs and detailed in conversations with family members, are part of a growing body of evidence indicating the junta’s security forces are now shooting to kill.
“Everything points to troops adopting shoot to kill tactics to suppress the protests, and with silence from the military administration, there is a growing consensus that this has been authorized by the government,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research, Emerlynne Gil, said in a statement Thursday.
Wednesday was the bloodiest day in four weeks of protests, as security forces opened fire on crowds of people across the country, killing at least 38 people. Images and footage, captured by bystanders, local reporters and citizen journalists, showed bodies lying in the street surrounded by pools of blood as protesters run to take cover. Other clips showed police beating detained protesters and in one piece of footage, security forces were seen beating three medical charity workers with their guns and batons.
Amnesty said the “harrowing scenes now unfolding across Myanmar shows mounting evidence of more textbook brutality” under the command of coup leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
“We are seeing a surge in unlawful killings, including apparent extrajudicial executions, with no apparent attempt to rein in the use of lethal force,” Gil said in a statement. “If anything, security forces appear increasingly brazen in their deployment of lethal weapons with each passing day.”
Source: Increasing evidence that Myanmar’s military forces are shooting to kill
