Men pray during the funeral of 7 year-old girl Khin Myo Chit, who was shot dead on her father's lap
Credit: REUTERS
A seven-year-old girl has become the youngest victim of the turmoil in Myanmar, after soldiers reportedly burst into her family’s home and shot her in the abdomen while she was sitting on her father’s lap.
The news came as authorities unexpectedly released hundreds of prisoners who have been arrested in recent months during protests against the Feb. 1 military coup.
According to local media reports, lawyers and witnesses, several buses full of prisoners drove out of Yangon’s Insein prison in the morning.
Officials did not confirm the exact figures or reveal the reasons behind the mass release, but the move came a day after Myanmar’s junta defended its violent crackdown, insisting it would not tolerate “anarchy.”
Those dying were all “violent terrorist people”, General Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesman, said in a news conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday.
Family members cry at the funeral of a protester shot and killed on March 13 by security forces
Credit: AFP
The military’s suppression of nationwide peaceful protests has been so brutal that Tom Andrews, the UN rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, has warned they have likely met the legal threshold for crimes against humanity.
The killing of Khin Myo Chit fits with a pattern of indiscriminate violence by an army intent on terrorising the population and curbing the demonstrations through any means possible.
The Myanmar Now website reported that soldiers kicked in the door of the family’s home in Mandalay and stormed in.
Her older sister Aye Chan San said they asked if everyone in the house was present and when her father said yes, they accused him of lying and shot in his direction, hitting the little girl.
She reportedly died before she could be taken to hospital. Pictures of her lifeless body, blood seeping through clothes bearing a cartoon of Mickey Mouse, were circulating widely on social media on Wednesday.
Seven-year-old Khin Myo Chit has become the youngest known victim in the crackdown following last month's military coup
Aye Chan San said the family was devastated both by grief and fear for her 19-year-old brother who was taken away by soldiers after they beat him with the butts of their guns.
“We couldn’t stop them from taking him,” she said. “They said: ‘You want us to shoot at you again?’”
Save the Children has expressed alarm at the rising number of child casualties and minors who have been arbitrarily detained during the ongoing military crackdown.
The aid group said at least 20 children have been killed, including a 14-year-old boy, who was reportedly shot dead when a bullet pierced the flimsy wall of his home in a squatter’s area.
Protesters carry a resident who was injured during a demonstration in Yangon
Credit: AFP
It added that it had responded to a total of 146 cases of child arrests or detentions and that an 11-year-old girl is believed to be among 17 children who remain in custody.
“The fact that so many children are being killed on an almost daily basis now shows a complete disregard for human life by security forces,” the group said.
In total, some 275 people are believed to have died since the military takeover and at least 2,000 people have been arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.
However, the army on Tuesday put the death toll lower, at 164.
Protesters hold placards and a flag of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party during a protest in Yangon on March 24
Credit: STRINGER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Streets and cities have been plunged into chaos since early February amid building protests against the junta and demands for the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won the November election.
She has not been seen since her arrest on Feb. 1. A court hearing on charges including the illegal possession of walkie-talkies has been postponed again until April 1, an aide to her lawyer said on Wednesday.
The increasingly bloody battleground tactics used by the military in city centres does not appear to have deterred tens of thousands from joining rallies.
An empty street next to Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon after demonstrators called for a "silent strike" in protest against the military coup
Credit: AFP TV
However, on Wednesday, activists changed tactics, calling for a “silent strike” calling for businesses and shops to close and people to stay off city streets, with the aim of shutting down the economy.
Local media showed normally bustling streets across the nation deserted.
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