Fears for BBC reporter as army shoot dead eight at barricade

A BBC reporter has been detained in Myanmar, the broadcaster said yesterday, as it called on the military authorities to confirm that he was safe.

Aung Thura, an accredited journalist with the BBC Burmese language service, had been reporting outside a court in the capital of Naypyidaw when he and another journalist were taken away by men in plain clothes.

The BBC said the men arrived in an unmarked van at around midday local time and demanded to see him and another reporter, Than Htike Aung, who works for Mizzima, a recently banned local news outlet.

The two journalists were then taken away. The BBC said it has been unable to contact Mr Thura since then and was extremely concerned.

“We are doing everything we can to find Aung Thura,” the BBC said. “We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe. Aung Thura is an accredited BBC journalist with many years of reporting experience covering events in Naypyidaw.”

About 40 reporters have been arrested since the February 1 coup. Roughly half of them remain in detention.

The latest detentions came as security forces shot dead a further eight people yesterday in their ongoing attempt to contain widescale demonstrations. More than 230 people have already died in crackdowns on protesters.

Authorities have been escalating the use of force as they try to suppress protests that are calling for the junta to step down and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and detained members of her elected government.

The two journalists were at the court to cover the legal proceedings against Win Htein (79), a detained senior official from Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.

The coup has rolled back years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule.

The last independent newspaper closed this past week, marking an end to an eight-year period in which they were allowed to operate alongside state media. Internet access has been severely restricted.

The eight people who died yesterday were all shot dead in the central town of Aungban. Seven died on the spot when security forces opened fire. The eighth person died later in hospital.

Hundreds who have fled towns and cities in Myanmar are sheltering in areas controlled by ethnic insurgents on the Thai border, according to the Karen National Union, which has been fighting Myanmar’s army for decades.

Nearly 1,000 people are sheltering in the area controlled by the KNU, including lawmakers and government staff.

Police and soldiers have used increasingly violent tactics to suppress demonstrations by supporters of Ms Suu Kyi, but that has not deterred the protesters.

In Aungban, security forces opened fire as they tried to clear a protesters’ barricade, media and a witness reported.

“Security forces came to remove barriers but the people resisted and they fired,” the witness, who declined to be identified, said by telephone.

The spokesman for the junta was not immediately available for comment but has previously said security forces have used force only when necessary. Critics have derided that.

Police ordered people in some Yangon neighbourhoods to dismantle barricades and have been hunting for protest leaders, residents said. Video on social media showed police forcing a man to crawl down a street on all fours.

Demonstrators were also out in the second city of Mandalay, the central towns of Myingyan and Katha, and Myawaddy in the east, witnesses and media reported.

Ambassadors of Western countries condemned the violence as “immoral and indefensible”

. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]