A Burmese NGO has recorded more than 500 deaths at the hands of the armed forces since the coup, but warned that the figure would be “much higher”.

More than 520 civilians, including many students and adolescents, have lost their lives at the hands of security forces since the February 1 coup in Myanmar, the NGO Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP ).

“We have confirmed 510 deaths “, reported the NGO, which says the balance is “probably much higher” as hundreds of people, detained over the past two months, are missing. The balance was particularly high Saturday, Burmese “Armed Forces Day”, with more than 110 dead, between them minor seven.

Despite the bloody crackdown, protesters took to the streets again on Monday. Fourteen civilians were killed, most in the east of Rangoon, the economic capital of the country, according to the AAPP. Meanwhile, eight people died in Shan state on Tuesday, with deaths also reported in Kashin, Mandalay and Bago states, according to the AAPP.

In recent days, on the occasion of the funeral of the dead, a crowd accompanied the coffins. Many gave the three-fingered salute, a sign of resistance to the coup in the Asian country.

Faced with the bloodshed, several rebel factions threatened Tuesday to take up arms against the junta.

If the security forces “continue to kill civilians, we will collaborate with the demonstrators and retaliate,” said a joint statement signed, among others, by the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group with several thousand men and soldiers. important means.

“The situation risks turning into an all-out civil war,” he told the agency. AFP Debbie Stothard, from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

Since the independence of Burma in 1948, a multitude of ethnic groups have come into conflict with the central government for more autonomy, access to the country’s many natural resources or to part of the lucrative drug trade.

In recent years, the military had agreed to a ceasefire with some of them and even removed AA from its list of terrorist organizations in mid-March.

But over the weekend, the junta launched airstrikes in the southeast, targeting the KNU after seizing a military base and killing several soldiers. It was the first such attack in the region in 20 years.

International pressure

Faced with the refusal of the armed forces to end the crackdown, Washington announced the immediate suspension of the 2013 trade and investment framework agreement with Myanmar, until a “democratically elected government” Be restored. France also denounced the regime’s “indiscriminate and murderous violence” and demanded the release of “all political prisoners”, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still being held in an unknown location. For their part, the British authorities have called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which will be held behind closed doors on Wednesday.

But the Burmese army has turned a deaf ear to Western protests and sanctions. On the other hand, Beijing and New Delhi refused to condemn it formally, although the former called on Monday for the “caution” of the military and the demonstrators. Moscow, meanwhile, maintains close ties with the junta, so much so that Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin took part in the annual parade of the Burmese armed forces on Saturday. The Kremlin drew attention to the “growing” death toll, but said Myanmar remains a “reliable ally and strategic partner” with which it wishes to strengthen military ties.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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