Aid group in Myanmar halts work after two staff go missing in attack

YANGON • Aid group Save the Children said it was suspending operations in Myanmar's strife-torn Kayah state after two staff went missing in an attack that left at least 30 people dead, including women and children, with many bodies burned.

The two staff were travelling to their home villages for the year-end holidays when they were caught up in the violence in the eastern state, Save the Children said in a statement last Saturday.

"We have confirmation that their private vehicle was attacked and burned out," it said.

Opposition groups blamed the military - which seized power from a civilian government in February - for the carnage last Friday near Mo So village in Hpruso town.

General Zaw Mun Tun, a spokesman for the junta, did not answer his telephone yesterday.

Reuters could not independently verify Saturday's accounts of the attack from a local resident, media reports and a local human rights group.

The state media reported that army troops had fired on and killed an unspecified number of "terrorists with weapons" from armed opposition forces fighting the military government.

Photos shared by the Karenni Human Rights Group and the local media showed the charred remains of bodies on burnt trucks.

"We strongly denounce the inhumane and brutal killing which violates human rights," the group said in a Facebook post.

A villager told Reuters last Saturday that he saw 32 bodies, while Save the Children said at least 38 people were killed.

The London-based charity said it has suspended operations in Kayah state and parts of neighbouring Karen state as well as in the Magway region.

"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," said its chief executive Inger Ashing.

Earlier this month, the United States 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.

Mr Win Myat Aye, a member of a group of ousted lawmakers, condemned Saturday's atrocity. "This is a cruel present from the military to our people on Christmas Day," he said.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military on Feb 1 overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been sentenced to a two-year term of detention and faces multiple other criminal charges.

At least 1,375 people have been killed and more than 8,000 jailed in crackdowns on protests and armed opposition since the coup, according to a tally of the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners.

The junta disputes those numbers and says soldiers have also been killed in clashes.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE