Mass funeral in Myanmar for victims of junta strike
Nearly a thousand people, mostly Christians, attended a mass funeral service for those killed in a military strike on a camp for displaced people in a predominantly Christian region of Myanmar.
Community leaders organized the service for the 29 dead people at a cemetery in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army, (KIA) in northern Kachin state on Oct.10.
The victims, including 13 children, were killed and 56 others were wounded in a military strike in Mung Lai Hkyet camp near Laiza town, bordering China, on Oct.9, according to local media reports.
A pastor from the Kachin Baptist Church led the service before burying the bodies. All the dead were Baptist Christians.
Armed rebel groups, including the KIA, are fighting against the ruling military, which toppled the civilian government in February 2021 in the civil war-hit Southeast Asian nation.
Kachin state has seen heavy fighting with the junta as it accuses the KIA of arming and training the newer "People's Defense Forces" that have sprung up recently to battle the junta.
