Network Media Group / BNI Online | August 8, 2018

The Palaung State Liberation Front/Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has accused the Tatmadaw of raping its six female medics before killing them while they were held in captivity.

“What we know is that our medic team was captured alive. They were killed after they were captured alive.

[The bodies] of the women showed signs of being raped before they were killed. They didn’t die in action. They were captured alive and tortured. We saw bruised injuries on their bodies,” said Maj Mai Aik Kyaw, information officer of the PSLF/TNLA.

The PSLF/TNLA stated that its six medics were killed after they were captured as prisoners of war during a skirmish on Namtu-Manton-Namkham Shwe Gas Pipeline road near Owal Law Village of Manton Township in northern Shan State on July 11.

It insisted that the Tatmadaw has violated the Geneva Conventions by allegedly killing, torturing, and gang raping the female medics who were captured as prisoners of war during the skirmish.

Maj Mai Aik Kyaw said both its soldier who escaped from being captured and drivers from the mining company, who were captured along with the female medics, said the female medics were captured by the Tatmadaw.

“As I have said earlier, we’ve learned that they took the mining [company] staff to one side and our six female soldiers to another side,” he continued.

In a statement released on August 6, the PSLF/TNLA said it can assess that the six female medics had been sexually harassed and raped throughout the whole night after they were captured on July 11.

The injured drivers, who were detained on the other side of the hill which was around 200 m (around 600 feet) from the area where the medics were detained, told the PSLF/TNLA that they heard the women crying and calling for help throughout the whole night while they were being tortured, according to the statement.

However, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team announced on July 19 that the six female medics from the PSLF/TNLA were killed in action during the skirmish on July 11. It stated that one Tatmadaw soldier was injured in the skirmish and the dead bodies of eight PSLF/TNLA soldiers were buried properly.

Maj Mai Aik Kyaw said two PSLF/TNLA soldiers and six female medics hitched a ride in the mining company’s vehicle on July 11. They were ambushed on the way and one PSLF/TNLA soldier was killed and another soldier was able to escape.

Sai Kyaw Aye and Sai Win Pe, staff members of the mining company, were injured in the skirmish and were captured together with two drivers who drove ahead of their vehicle. The four staff members was released on July 12 after officials from the mining company vouched for them, the PSLF/TNLA stated.

Villagers found the buried bodies of the medics and cremated them.

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This article is originally appeared on BNI on August 8, 2018.

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