(Staff articles from the Khit Thit Media on August 11, 2021.)
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| Six dead youths in the alleyway. |
Apparently the group including one young girl
decided to kill themselves than getting captured and facing torture and horrible
rapes and certain death in the hands of notoriously violent soldiers of brutal Burmese
Army.
The army’ raid was on the apartment block at N0-38 of lower 44th street in the crowded Botahtaung Township in Rangoon City. Altogether eight youths were inside the apartment unit targeted by the armed soldiers.
The six death youth
were Kaung Min Thant, Ye Min Oo, Wai Yan Htet, Wai Zaw, Min Thitsar Aung, and
Wai Wai Myint (only girl among six). One girl Poe Kyaw Ktaw Khant and one boy Thiha
Kaung Set were captured and taken away to one of the interrogation &
torture centres in Rangoon.
Kaung Min Thant
was the first one fleeing on to the flat roof top and shot down from below.
Once he dropped to the ground the rest held their hands and jumped down together
over the edge. And none survived the 50+ feet drop. The raiding army colonel told
the families that the bodies would be taken away and buried in an unmarked mass
grave to avoid the protest gatherings.
“We rather dropped dead from 50 ft than begging for
our lives by dropping 2 ft on our kneels. I just wish I shall not be born again
in this hellhole called Burma if there is such a thing as next live!” a neighbor
heard Kaung Min Thant shouted aloud at the roof edge just before he fell to the
ground below.
According to the
neighbors they were dobbed in by the local army collaborator and ex-soldier
turned ward-administrator Myint Aung who lives in next street, the 43rd
Street. And the raid was led by Army Colonel Soe Htun a Tactical Commander from
the Rangoon Regional Military Command.
(Amnesty International's analysis of 50 videos from Burma.)
13-August Update
One of the six deaths,
the only female one, was 28-year-old Wai Wai Myint whose body was forced to
cremate and the ashes thrown away yesterday at Rangoon’s Kyu-chaung Crematorium
in Shwe Pyi Thar township.
According to her grieving husband Dr. Soe Myat Thu,
she was a gold-jewelry shop owner and left a five-year-old daughter behind. She
apparently was the wealthy supporter of the anti-coup group cell destroyed by
the surprise army raid on their hideout in 44th street. She was at
the apartment unit that day only to give them rent money for the unit.
Myanmar Army later released a public statement on Myanmar TV declaring that the group was a local PDF (People Defense Force) cell, as part of the NLD bombing and assassination campaign wreaking havoc in the Rangoon CBD. Their explosives and weapons captured from the raid were also shown on the TV.
15-August Update
Despite being a
young mother with a 5-yr-old daughter, Wai Wai Myint has been active in
anti-coup protests since the beginning in early February. She was an
educated one with a Master Degree in English Major from Dagon University.
“Her nickname in
school was Pan-thee (Apple) and she was a good-nature girl and she was a
fearless one”, recalled one of her close friends. In last April she was
arrested for taking part in the mass protest at Kyauk Myaung Township.
She was released
a few days later, but she was beaten up inside and apparently had witnessed brutal
torture and interrogation (including rapes) of fellow protesters by Myanmar
Army soldiers. Her friends believe that was the reason she wouldn’t let herself
fallen into their torturous hand again and would decide to kill herself along
with her friends.
