At least 80 children taken hostage by Myanmar junta

At least 80 children taken hostage by Myanmar junta

Myanmar’s military junta has held at least 80 children captive in a village in the Sagaing region, where it has continued its assaults against civilians with airstrikes and heavy weapons.

Junta forces targeted villages in the Sagaing region with indiscriminate airstrikes as 80 children, all under 12, were attending a school in Chin Pone village, according to the national unity government (NUG).

The shadow government established by ousted lawmakers and ethnic groups said teachers evacuated the children to the basement of a nearby monastery, where they were later located and have since been held hostage by junta troops.

Some of the captive children are even under the age of five.

“Given the junta’s escalating acts of terror and atrocity crimes against civilians, the NUG holds well-founded fears that returning villagers would be killed, disappeared, tortured or arbitrarily detained. It also holds grave fears for the safety of the captive children,” said the statement of the NUG’s ministry of women, youths and children on Feb. 28.

The NUG called on the international community to join its efforts to secure the children’s immediate and unconditional release.

Thousands of people from the regions, where the Bamar-majority residents had not seen fighting or military atrocities for decades, have been forced to flee their homes

The military has continued its reign of terror against civilians in several villages in Sagaing and Magwe, where it has used airstrikes and heavy weapons while raiding villages, burning homes and killing innocent people.

Thousands of people from the regions, where the Bamar-majority residents had not seen fighting or military atrocities for decades, have been forced to flee their homes.

Fighting has been intensifying between junta troops and people’s defense forces in eastern Kayah state, where the junta has used fighter jets, helicopter attacks and heavy weapons that led to thousands of people fleeing into the jungle.

Last week UN rights expert Tom Andrews called for the convening of an emergency Security Council session to debate and vote on a resolution to ban the arms transfers that the Myanmar military is known to use to attack and kill civilians.

Nearly 1,600 people including at least 50 children have been killed and more than 12,000 people arrested since the coup last February.

VIDEO: Junta forces raze 500 homes in Myanmar village