Myanmar's army shot dead a journalist who was detained while covering clashes between the army and ethnic rebels at the rugged border, saying he reached for a soldier's gun during an attempted escape, the press council said today.
It released a military statement that said Aung Naing was arrested September 30 after an attack on the army near Kyaikmaraw in Mon state, and that an interrogation revealed he was an information officer for an armed ethnic Karen group.
The statement said he was killed on Oct. 4, and that his body had been properly buried near a village.
It's not clear why the information was only now released. The interim press council was formed under the aegis of the president and asked for the military's information last week.
"We are saddened by this news," council member Zaw Thet Htway said, asking how the military decided unilaterally to bury the body and why it waited to release the information. "Whether he was a journalist or an officer from an armed group, this is a human rights violation," Htway said. "We need to find out the truth about what happened."
Despite efforts for a nationwide peace accord to end six decades of conflict, clashes between ethnic armed groups and government troops have occurred in Myanmar's eastern, northern and southeastern regions. Recent clashes reported in Karen, Shan and Kachin states cast doubt over a ceasefire signing planned this year.
