Reports: Myanmar soldiers kill and burn bodies of 19 villagers, including 4 children

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Independent media and a villager say soldiers from Myanmar’s miliary government have killed 19 residents of a village near where soldiers were attacked by resistance forces opposed to army rule. They say the bodies of the victims, including four children, were then burned. Reports of the killings, along with what were said to be photos and videos of the remains of the victims, surfaced on Friday as a human rights monitoring group, Myanmar Witness, released a report charging that the military is deliberately carrying out atrocities, including beheadings, to instill terror in those fighting the army and in a public already dismayed by the military’s barbarity.