A horror beyond words

Following is the continuing report, translated into English, of the recent massacre in Mon Taing Bin village.

In the morning around 6.00 am on May 10th, soldiers from the Burmese military were attacked by a defense force. When the defense force withdrew, the soldiers took vengeance by raiding the nearest village, Mon Taing Bin.

In the end, over a hundred villagers were captured. They ran into the monastery for safety, as the soldiers came in firing guns and powerful weapons. U Myint was one of eight men who were eventually released. U Myint recalled that they proceeded to separate the men from the women, put a band over their eyes, and were then tortured and asked questions. He said, “They bate the victims, asking them to say that they support PDFs. They asked where the PDFs live, saying that they must be here, and how many PDFs are here. As no one knew any of this, we were all beaten.”

According to those who escaped from this nightmare, there were about 75 women captured and they were not fed any food for 3 days. A woman escaped said that she heard the noises or screams of the victims tortured and saw the corpses burned; she was just expecting to be called and killed by the demons.

RFA news on May 17 released the video records in which the soldiers were openly talking about how brutally they killed the people, and the photographs of the evidences of their crimes committed in a place of Sagaing Region. A soldier was proudly saying, “You don’t believe me? Come on and see! I am an expert in killing. Killing is my childhood hobby.” It also includes the conversations of a group of three soldiers who were talking about how they chopped and killed the people. These video records and photographs were sent to RFA news by a local villager who found and picked up a mobile phone.

These video records and photographs were also sent by a local defense force to Myanmar Now, a local news outlet. In one of the photos, it is seen that a group of about 30 men whose hands were tied in their back, laying on a floor of a building. Most of them were naked in their upper body and some soldiers wearing soldier caps, riffle guns leaning against a column nearby and some soldiers holding guns can be seen. A 45 year old man who is a villager from Mon Taing Bin Village and was one of the victims captured and released, claimed that the monastery in the photo is the village monastery of Mon Taing Bin. “I know everyone in this photo and can say who they are. Just one who is still alive until now, is Ko Nyo Soe Linn. The rest were killed,” said by him [who requested the author not to mention his name for his safety purpose].

In these photos, the bloody corpses which seemed to be chopped off and killed, and the soldiers passed by.