The remains of at least 35 charred bodies, including one belonging to a child, were found near a village in eastern Myanmar’s Karenni (Kayah) State early Christmas morning, according to both locals and an anti-junta armed resistance group based in the region, Report informs via Myanmar NOW.
The bodies were found on eight burned vehicles and five motorbikes near the village of Moso on Saturday. The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) has accused the Myanmar military troops who were present in the area on Friday of committing the crime in question.
The commander of the KNDF’s Brigade 4, who did not want to be named, said that at around 11 am on Friday, members of his group saw smoke billowing out of the parked vehicles, but they did not see the burned bodies, as the fire was still blazing.
Due to fears that junta troops may still have been present in the area, the KNDF was only briefly able to visit the area surrounding the trucks that day; it was not until the following morning, when they returned to the scene, that they witnessed the full extent of the massacre.
Among the charred remains were the fingers of a child who the KNDF commander estimated to be younger than five. He noted that KNDF members had previously seen a small vehicle carrying a woman and child pass down the road leading to that area before the fires had started.
“We don’t know exactly how many women, men and children are among those burned. Some became ashes, some others were charred,” the commander told Myanmar Now.
“The [bodies] were no longer recognizable or identifiable when we saw them.”
Supplies found by KNDF members on the vehicles suggested that the victims were locals fleeing clashes in the area.