NAYPYITAW, 06 October 2021, (TON): Tin Myo Win tried repeatedly to talk his 16-year-old son out of joining the resistance movement against Myanmar’s military junta. In the end, however, the resident of Myin Thar, a village in Magway’s Gangaw Township, agreed to let him go.

After making this decision, he took his son, Naing Myo Tun, to a camp on the bank of the Myittha River where other young revolutionaries had gathered to prepare for the coming fight. Then he returned to his home to take his wife and daughter to a safe place at the base of a mountain west of the village.

Before he and his son parted ways, Tin Myo Win pointed out a few spots where Naing Myo Tun and his comrades could hide if necessary. He also told his son to change his shirt so he would be harder to see.

He said, recalling his concern for his son’s safety “he was wearing a red shirt, so I made him put on a black one.”

Just hours later, however, his fears grew as he heard the sound of artillery pounding the area around the group’s camp. Eventually, he returned to the site to find that the situation there was far worse than he could ever have imagined.

What he found was that his son was not just injured by the shelling, but had also been shot in the head execution-style. Apparently, a leg wound prevented him from escaping, and the troops that overran the camp decided to murder him instead of taking him prisoner.

Naing Myo Tun was one of 18 people, 12 of them boys in their teens, who were killed on September 9. More than 30 houses were also torched by the soldiers who unleashed hell on the village of Myin Thar that day.

According to a resident of the village, eight of the victims had been shot at close range. One, a man in his eighties, was covered with bruises and had his hands tied behind his back. Another was tied to a chair.