The ruling military did not comment on Friday’s incident near Kaya State’s Mo So village and junta spokesman Jae Min Tun could not be reached for comment.
State media reported that soldiers fired at and killed an unspecified number of “terrorists with weapons” from forces fighting the military government. State media did not say anything about civilian casualties.
Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said reports of civilian killings, including at least one child, were credible.
“I condemn this grave incident and all attacks against civilians across the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.
Griffith called for “a thorough and transparent” investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice and called for the protection of civilians.
Residents and a human rights group working in the area said soldiers had killed civilians. Photos posted by the rights group showed charred bodies, some in the back of a charred truck.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrown the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.
The crackdown on the protests killed more than 1,300 people and jailed more than 11,000, according to a tally by the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners’ Rights group.
The military disputes the group’s death toll.
Some opponents of the army have taken up arms, some joining ethnic minority guerrillas who have been fighting the government for self-determination for years in various parts of the country, including the former Kaya state.
The Save the Children aid group said two of its workers, who were traveling to their home villages for vacation at the end of the year, went missing in the attack. It suspended operations in Kaya State and neighboring Karen State and parts of the Magway region.
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