(Helen Regen’s article from the CNN on 24 March 2021.)
(CNN) Myanmar's
security forces shot dead a 7-year-old girl in the city of Mandalay on Tuesday,
the youngest victim yet in the military's bloody crackdown on civilian
opposition to the February 1 coup.
The young girl was killed in her home during a
military raid, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners (AAPP) and Reuters news agency. Citing relatives, local news outlet
Myanmar Now reported the girl, named Khin Myo Chit, was shot while sitting in
her father's lap after security forces kicked down the door to the family's
home.
Soldiers asked
the father if everyone in the family was present in the house -- when the
father said yes, they accused him of lying and shot at him, hitting the girl
instead, Myanmar Now reported, quoting the victim's older sister.
The ruthless
killing of a child in her father's arms fits a pattern of abuse and
indiscriminate use of deadly violence from Myanmar's security forces that has
targeted not only unarmed protesters and opponents to the coup, but bystanders,
civilians in their homes, and children.