Myanmar security forces kill 4 in Mandalay city: media reports

Bangkok, Mar 22 (efe-epa).- At least four people were killed after Myanmar security forces conducted overnight raids in Mandalay city, according to local media reports on Monday.

The Myanmar Now news portal said that a 15-year-old boy was among those killed Sunday night during the raids against the anti-coup protest movement. At the beginning of February, the military mounted a coup to topple the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Despite the security forces’ continued violent crackdown on dissent, people returned to the streets of Mandalay, as well as other cities such as Monywa and Kale, on Monday to protest the violence of the country’s military junta and demand a return to democratic reforms.

Some of the protesters carried signs calling on the United Nations to intervene and prevent further military violence.

According to the prisoners’ aid organization AAPP, 250 people have already been killed and more than 2,600 temporarily detained in the Southeast Asian country since the military coup.

The AAPP said the actual number of victims is “probably much higher.”

“The military junta is committing crimes against humanity, of stealing, looting, murder, hiding bodies all over downtown areas. It is terrorism and we urge the international community, including ASEAN, to take immediate action,” the AAPP said.

Meanwhile, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday traveled to Brunei, which holds the rotating presidency of the ASEAN, before his trip to Malaysia and Indonesia.

 This visit comes after Malaysia and Indonesia called for an emergency ASEAN summit to address the crisis in Myanmar.

UN Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrews has previously accused Myanmar’s military of committing crimes against humanity.