Seven civilians, including two women and two children were killed by junta soldiers near Armakan Village in Wuntho Township, Sagaing Region at about 4:00 am on 26 April 2025.
The killed were travelling vendors who went by motorcycle around Wuntho Town and the surrounding areas selling their goods. They were between Armakan Village and the nearby entrance to Wuntho Town when a junta army patrol came across them and killed them all. At the time no resistance forces were active in the area.
An official from Kawlin Info, a media outlet affiliated with resistance groups in the region said: “Two children were among those killed. It seems the vendors often carried their children on their backs whilst working. Afterwards, it was learned that a junta column had passed through the area around that time. There are many security checkpoints there, run by the junta and its ally the Pyu-Saw-Htee militia, so it is nearly impossible for resistance forces to get close.”
Pro-junta Telegram channels accused resistance forces of carrying out the killings but following investigations Kawlin Info said this was incorrect.
The Kawlin Info official said: “These allegations have been appearing on pro-junta channels since 27 April. Our response has been delayed due to difficulties in investigating the incident. It occurred in territory controlled by the junta, making it impossible for our resistance groups to access the area, which has made the investigation extremely challenging.”
The junta’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 120 and Infantry Battalion (IB) 111 are the main junta units operating in Wuntho Township, but they have also been recently joined by junta units from Paungbyin Township, Sagaing Region, according to resistance sources in the region.
It is currently unknown what unit the soldiers responsible for the killings came from.
The victims of the killings were identified as: Ko Lin and Ma Nandar Hliang, a couple from Myothit 1 Ward in Wuntho Town, along with their one-month-old baby; Ma Aye Thu and her one-year-old child; and Ma Chit Su and Ma Win Yee, who were both in their twenties and residents of Satwin Ward, Wuntho Town.
Previously, also in Wuntho Township, an airstrike on Nankhan Village on 9 April 2025 killed 26 people including women and children.
According to the Burmese Women’s Union (BWU), 66 women were killed in junta attacks throughout Myanmar during the month of March 2025 alone.
