YANGON: At least five opposition rebels have been killed after days of clashes in Myanmar, an anti-junta militia said on Sunday, as Britain and the United States condemned the military’s violence against civilians.

The country has been in uproar with artillery. since the military ousted civilian By Sunday, the CDF had retreated leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a February into the jungle, he said. 1 coup, triggering a massive “We will not stay any more in uprising which authorities have the town... but we will come back sought to quell with lethal force. to attack soon,” he said. “We only

Some in the anti-junta movement have home-made guns. This was have set up local militias not enough.” armed with home-made weapons He added that residents remaining to protect their towns from security in Mindat — which has forces — which have killed at been under martial law since least 790 civilians according to a Thursday — were afraid to leave local monitoring group. their homes for fear of being

In the western state of Chin, the targeted by the military. town of Mindat has emerged as a The US and UK embassies in hotspot for unrest, where some Myanmar sounded the alarm residents have formed the Chinland Saturday on Mindat’s unrest, Defense Force (CDF). calling for security forces to

“We have at least five members cease violence. killed and over 10 were wounded” “The military’s use of weapons this week, said a CDF spokesman, of war against civilians, including adding that five Mindat residents this week in Mindat, is a further were also arrested by the military. demonstration of the depths the

With mobile data blocked regime will sink to hold onto across the country, details about power,” the US embassy said in a the fighting have been slow to tweet Saturday. come out, and on-the-ground The British embassy said the Minverification is made harder as dat violence “cannot be justified.” locals are fearful of retaliation. “Evidence of atrocities should

The spokesman, who declined be sent to the (United Nations to be named, told Agence Independent Investigative Mechanism France-Presse that CDF fighters for Myanmar) so perpetrators set fire to several army trucks, can be held to account,” the destroying them, and ambushed embassy tweeted, referring to a reinforcement troops, while the committee that collects evidence military has attacked the town of international crimes.

State-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday that a military tribunal would be convened to try “perpetrators of terrorist attacks” in Mindat.

Across the country, anti-coup protesters continue to march for democracy — with demonstrators in northern Hpakhant holding signs that said “Stay strong, Mindat.”

Pope urges peace, unity

Pope Francis celebrated mass in honor of conflict-ridden Myanmar on Sunday, repeating his calls for peace and an end to the violence that has left hundreds dead in nearly four months.

The mass inside Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican came after several appeals for peace in recent months by Francis, who visited Myanmar in November 2017, marking the first papal visit to a Buddhist-majority nation.

A Myanmar nun recited the first reading in Burmese in front of a congregation of about 200 nuns, priests and seminarians during the mass intended for the country’s Catholics in Rome and beyond.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 1 coup, triggering a massive civilian uprising that security forces have sought to quell with lethal force.

Street protests calling for a return to democracy continue to occur nearly daily, despite the junta’s bloody crackdown having killed an estimated 790 people to date, according to a local monitoring group.

In his homily, Francis skirted an overt denunciation of the military regime, instead appealing to the faithful to be “steadfast in the truth,” urging them not to lose hope.

“Dear brothers and sisters, in these days when your beloved country of Myanmar is experiencing violence, conflict and repression, let us ask ourselves: what we are being called to keep? In the first place, to keep the faith,” he said.

Francis appealed for unity, calling division among communities and peoples “a deadly disease.”

“Sins against unity abound: envy, jealousy, the pursuit of personal interests rather than the common good, the tendency to judge others. Those little conflicts of ours find a reflection in great conflicts, like the one your country is experiencing in these days,” he said.

“I know that some political and social situations are bigger than we are,” he added. “Yet commitment to peace and fraternity always comes from below: each person, in little things, can play his or her part.”

“Amid war, violence and hatred, fidelity to the Gospel and being peacemakers calls for commitment, also through social and political choices, even at the risk of our lives.”