Many ethnic young Kachin men and male students in Mayan Village near Namti city in Burma's northern Kachin State were brutally assaulted and detained last night by Burmese soldiers in the village-based Burmese Army Artillery Battalion No. 372. The army action came after some youths prevented a rape of a minor girl by four Burmese Army soldiers.
Following directives from the battalion commander Lt-Col. Ye Yint Twe, who is known to treat villagers cruelly, only ethnic Kachin young men were targeted, said villagers of Mayan.
Lt-Col. Ye Yint Twe ordered his soldiers to "Kill all Kachin young men in the village," villagers quoted the military officer as saying.
Villagers said over 20 youths have been severely injured. More than three persons have been hospitalized and over 10 young men and village headmen have been put in a prison cell in Namti city which is near the Mayan Village.
Over 30 youths have fled the village since last night for fear of being assaulted and arrested by the soldiers, added villagers.
Teenagers, Middle and High School students, headmen of wards in the village and several Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers, who temporarily returned home, were among the victims, said their parents.
Villagers told KNG today that the mayhem was started yesterday by Burmese soldiers when a young man called Latsai Naw prevented the rape of a girl called Wa Sha Ki on the road in daylight. A knife was held to her throat by four soldiers who attempted to rape her.
Latsai Naw called several young men and they beat up the soldiers after he was assaulted for preventing the rape by the four soldiers, said locals.
Following the incident, the angry battalion commander Lt-Col Ye Yit Twe gathered 30 of his soldiers and they circled the Dai Hkawng video theatre to arrest Kachin youths but some fled, said eyewitnesses.
The soldiers began searching for the youths in the village by entering each house. Every young man in the houses was beaten up by the soldiers, said villagers.
Eyewitnesses said many were rounded up from their homes while some were picked up from the village train station by local Burmese soldiers. They used guns, knives and wooden sticks, added eyewitnesses.
The innocent students, Brang Awng, Labang Naw Ding and Hpuwan La San were severely beaten up in their homes by soldiers and had to be hospitalized in Namti, said family sources. The events started around 7 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m. Burma Standard Time.
Mayan Village is home to over 300 families, mainly Kachins. They have been threatened not to tell the truth by the battalion commander Ye Yint Twe. They have been told to say that the trouble was not between the soldiers and local Kachin youths but among the villagers
Night Curfew has been set from tonight at 7 p.m. by Lt-Col. Ye Ying Twe and whoever breaks the Night Curfew in the village has been threatened to gun down by soldiers, said villagers.
