NAYPYITAW, 26 December 2021, (TON): According to both locals and an anti-junta armed resistance group based in the region “the remains of at least 35 charred bodies, including one belonging to a child, were found near a village in eastern Myanmar’s Karenni (Kayah) State early Christmas morning.”

The bodies were found on eight burned vehicles and five motorbikes near the village of Moso. The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) has accused the Myanmar military troops who were present in the area on Friday of committing the crime in question.

The commander of the KNDF’s Brigade 4, who did not want to be named, said that at around 11am on Friday, members of his group saw smoke billowing out of the parked vehicles, but they did not see the burned bodies, as the fire was still blazing. 

Due to fears that junta troops may still have been present in the area, the KNDF was only briefly  able to visit the area surrounding the trucks that day; it was not until the following morning, when they returned to the scene, that they witnessed the full extent of the massacre.

Among the charred remains were the fingers of a child who the KNDF commander estimated to be younger than five. He noted that KNDF members had previously seen a small vehicle carrying a woman and child pass down the road leading to that area before the fires had started.