Yangon, June 5

At least 20 persons were killed by Myanmar’s security forces in the Ayeyarwady river delta region on Saturday after villagers armed with catapults and crossbows fought back against troops searching for weapons, local media and residents said. That would make it the heaviest civilian death toll in nearly two months. Some 845 people had previously been killed by the army and police since the Feb. 1 coup, according to an activist group. The junta has disputed that figure.

Saturday’s death toll highest

• Saturday’s civilian death toll appeared to be the highest since more than 80 persons were reportedly killed in Bago in early April.
• In the borderlands, some two dozen ethnic armies have been waging insurgencies for decades.

Reuters was unable to reach a junta spokesman on Saturday for comment on the violence at Hlayswe village in Kyonpyaw township in the Ayeyarwady Region. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. The army has struggled to impose control since it overthrew elected leader Aug San Suu Kyi after a decade of democratic reforms had opened up the once isolated Southeast Asian state.

Clashes broke out before dawn on Saturday at Hlayswe, some 150 km (100 miles) northwest of the main city of Yangon, when soldiers said they had come to search for weapons, at least four local media outlets and a resident said. “The people in the village only have crossbows and there are a lot of casualties on the people’s side,” said the resident. — Reuters