Funerals were held on Wednesday for two military officers who were murdered in the outskirts of the Shan State capital of Taunggyi on Aug. 20. Military families stationed with the engineering corps unit in the city came to pay their respects.
The funerals were held at the No. 2 Field Military Hospital, after which the bodies were cremated at an interfaith cemetery in Taunggyi. The two officers were given military honors.
The deaths of the two officers, along with a woman and her young daughter, earlier this week are shrouded in mystery, as local authorities either refuse to release any information about the case or maintain they have none.
Reporters from Eleven inquired about the case at the funeral and were told by the military officer leading the ceremony that he had none. The military’s Eastern Command and the local engineering corps unit also told Eleven they had no information about the case.
Earlier this week, state and city police said they had not been contacted about the case and are not investigating it.
Col. Hla Oo, Shan State’s minister for security and border affairs, said the military is dealing with the case and would not release any information to the public until further notice.
Taunggyi residents say they have heard reports that the four victims were murdered with swords near a cave west of the Taunggyi Institute of Medicine. There have been reports that the woman’s body was “broken apart in pieces” and that her daughter’s abdomen was slashed open, allowing her intestines to spill out.
The alleged crime scene is located in an area governed by the military under Section 144, placing it off-limits to non-military personnel.
