Military seize seven priests, torch a village in Myanmar
Father Aung Ling was freed after 11 hours of questioning. Priests have been picked up and forced to sign documents in which they pledge not to support opposition forces. A village is razed to the ground by a fire.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) continue to commit acts of violence against the Catholic Church and civilians.
Yesterday a Catholic priest was kidnapped, interrogated for 11 hours and then released. Michael Aung Ling, parish priest in Hakha Parish, was suspected of supporting resistance forces in Kanpetlet, a town in Chin State.
He was let go only after signing a document declaring his commitment not to support groups or movements that oppose the military.
The same fate befell yesterday six priests and another person who were abducted from a village in Mandalay because they were accused of helping young rebels.
On Tuesday evening, the military set fire to Kin Ma, a village in Magway, a region in central Myanmar, killing at least two elderly people trapped in their homes, local residents told Reuters.
Myanmar state TV blamed “terrorists” for the fire claiming that media reporting a different version of the incident were “deliberately plotting to discredit the military.”
According to residents, soldiers set the village on fire after clashes with forces opposing the military junta.
More than 200 houses were reduced to ashes while only 30 were left standing. Most of the population took refuge in the forests to escape the violence.
Days earlier, junta forces had raided villages in the Tabayin area and opened fire on civilians after cutting off the power supply.
According to The Irrawaddy, soldiers perhaps sought to take revenge for the killing of an informant's daughters.
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18/02/2021 12:31
