UPDATE - Myanmar: Junta troops kill at least 34 more protesters

UPDATES NUMBER OF FATALITIES, ADDS DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) – At least 34 people were gunned down by security forces during anti-military protests in Myanmar on Sunday.

Most of them – 31 – were killed in Hlaing Thar Yar, the most populated township of the commercial capital Yangon.

“We have received 31 dead bodies so far. All of them died of gunshot wounds,” a surgeon at a public hospital in the township told Anadolu Agency on the phone Sunday night.

There has been a heavy security presence around protest sites in the area since early Sunday morning.

Zay Phyo, a protest leader, said more than 500 security personnel had been deployed to target people gathering in Hlaing Thar Yar.

“There are a few police officers, but most are soldiers. They are using guerrilla tactics against peaceful protesters,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“The soldiers moved around in the area on motorbikes, shooting people at random. That’s why there have been so many casualties.”

Several more people were injured as troops fired tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and live ammunition at crowds.

“We had anticipated such a violent crackdown and have prepared to defend ourselves as much as we can,” Phyo said.

- Martial law

Martial law was imposed in Hlaing Thar Yar and an adjacent township, Shwe Pyi Thar, on Sunday night, after claims local six factories were set on fire by protesters.

Photos circulating on social media earlier in the day showed at least five trucks packed with troops crossing a bridge leading to Hlaing Thar Yar, with plumes of black smoke visible in the distance.

A witness in Insein township, located next to Hlaing Thar Yar, said troops destroyed makeshift barricades set up by protesters and set tires alight as they passed through the area.

Irrawaddy, a leading local news website, reported that two more people were killed in Yangon’s Twantae township.

Another person died after being shot in the head in Pyay, a town in central Myanmar, according to the outlet.

Despite the growing brutality of the military junta, there has been no letup in demonstrations against the Feb. 1 coup across Myanmar.

Over 110 people have been killed by troops so far, with more than 2,000 detained throughout the country.

-‘Darkness before dawn’

In a video address on social media on Saturday night, Mann Win Khaing Than, a senior member of ousted State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, urged people to continue their resistance to the military junta.

In hiding along with other legislators since the coup, last week he was appointed vice president by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which was formed by lawmakers of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

“This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close,” he said, telling supporters that the civilian government will seek ways to enact required laws so people have the right to defend themselves against the military.

In a statement on Sunday night, the CRPH said it was perfectly legal for the people of Myanmar to protect themselves from security forces, as the military junta is a “terrorist organization that is killing innocent people.”