The charred remains of more than 30 members of the Karen ethnic minority have been discovered in eastern Myanmar after an atrocity allegedly carried out by the country's military, according to human rights activists and local media reports.
Images of the burned bodies found in the Karen majority Kayah state went viral on social media on Saturday.
The dead had been attempting to escape fighting between the Myanmar military and anti-junta militia groups in their villages, a member of the Karenni Human Rights Group, who personally saw the bodies, told Germany's DPA news agency on Saturday.
"About 35 people just tried to flee their homes but they met the junta's forces and were arrested, then burnt to death," he added.
On Sunday, Save the Children said that "at least 38 people, including women and children, were killed in Kayah State in Eastern Myanmar".
The international charity said that two of its staff members in the area have been missing since the incident, and condemned the Myanmar military for the attack.
The charity said its field workers were on their way home from a humanitarian mission in the area when their car was attacked and burnt out.
“Save the Children condemns this attack as a breach of International Humanitarian Law. We are horrified at the violence carried out against innocent civilians and our staff, who are dedicated humanitarians, supporting millions of children in need across Myanmar. Investigations into the nature of the incident are continuing but attacks against aid workers cannot be tolerated,” Chief executive Inger Ashing said.
In October, the group said its office in the western town of Thantlang was destroyed in junta shelling that also razed dozens of homes following clashes with a local anti-junta group.
The government-controlled Mirror Daily newspaper reported on Saturday there had been fighting between the military and local rebel groups in the town of Hpruso on Friday, during which seven trucks it claimed were transporting weapons and food to the rebels were fired upon.
"We found some burnt dead bodies with their hands tied behind their backs. Our people were killed brutally when they fled to a safe place from their villages," a member of Hpruso's resistance forces said, adding some people had been burned alive.
"People's Defence Forces" (PDF) have sprung up across the country to fight the junta, and have drawn the military into a bloody stalemate of clashes and reprisals.
On Saturday, photos appeared on social media purporting to show two burnt-out trucks and a car on a highway in Hpruso township in eastern Kayah state, with the charred remains of bodies inside.
A member of a local PDF group said its fighters had found the vehicles Saturday morning after hearing the military had stopped several vehicles in Hpruso after clashes with its fighters nearby on Friday.
Vehicles smolder in Hpruso township, Kayah state, Myanmar, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Source: Karenni Nationalities Defense Force
"When we went to check in the area this morning, we found dead bodies burnt in two trucks. We found 27 dead bodies," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We found 27 skulls," said another witness who did not want to be named.
Myanmar has been mired in chaos and violence since a coup in February in which the country's military ousted the de facto head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta has ruled with an iron fist ever since, brutally suppressing any resistance to its rule.
According to human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 people imprisoned since the coup.
Rohingya refugees gather near the fence at the 'no man's land' zone between the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Maungdaw district, Rakhine State. Source: EPA
PDF groups have surprised the army with their effectiveness, analysts have said, as the military struggles to break resistance to its rule.
Earlier this month the US said it was "outraged by credible and sickening reports" that Myanmar troops had seized 11 villagers, including children, in the Sagaing region and burned them alive.
Win Myat Aye, a member of a group of ousted lawmakers, condemned the atrocity.
"This is a cruel present from the military to our people on Christmas Day," he said.
