The Shan Human Rights Foundation withheld the names of the people for security reasons.

The report said that on 13 February 2015 around 4 pm two women, one aged 76 and one aged 47, were shot and wounded while driving in a car in Laogai. On the evening of the same day at 6 pm a married couple were shot dead while riding their motorcycle in Laukkai.

On 14 February a relative went with three other people to collect the couple’s bodies to cremate them at the border. On the way, he saw 10 other men dead on the road – with their hands tied. The bodies of the dead couple had bullet wounds on them. The wife had been shot in her thigh, her arm and her back. The man had been shot in the head, and also in the side. They had been shot on their motorbike on the way back to the Chinese side of the border. Belongings which they were bringing from their house, including CDs for their children, were scattered in the road beside them.

The SHRF report also stated that on the night of 13 February civilians were used as human shields. It said: “Villagers were used as hostages in an attempt to ambush Kokang soldiers.”

SHRF also said that on the afternoon of 19 February “a farmer, 61, was shot and injured in a village 6 miles south of Laukkai.”

On 19 February it is alleged that, “four male villagers were tortured at the main Burma Army base in Laukkai.”

A spokesperson for SHRF told Karen News that because of the thousands of refugees taking refuge over the border the Chinese authorities had opened seven camps.

He said: “Our network estimates that there are seven camps opened by the Chinese government in the south, but as yet there are no camps dealing with the situation in the north.”

The Shan Human Rights Foundation spokesperson urged Ms Yanghee Lee, United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar to urgently investigate the abuse of human rights and to put pressure on the country’s government to stop its military offensives that target civilians.