Myanmar (TIP): Myanmar’s military government on Thursday alleged that deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments, while eight people were killed when security forces opened fire on protests against the coup, witnesses said. Rights group Amnesty International accused the military of adopting battle tactics against demonstrators. Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when security forces fired on a protest, a demonstrator who helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters by telephone. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths. “We protested peacefully,” the 31-year-old man said. “I couldn’t believe they did it.” One person was killed in the North Dagon district of the biggest city of Yangon, witnesses said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man prone on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was reported in Mandalay. Before Thursday’s deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, had said more than 60 protesters were killed and about 2,000 people detained by security forces since the February 1 coup against Suu Kyi’s elected government. Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions. “These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions,” said Joanne Mariner, Amnesty’s director of crisis response. “These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open.” Junta spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told a news conference the security forces were disciplined and used force only when necessary. The unrest was not a situation that should be of concern to the international community and the West was making assumptions that were incorrect, he said. The military has previously said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it describes as demonstrations by “riotous protesters” whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.

Zaw Min Tun also said Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth $600,000 as well as gold while in government, according to a complaint by Phyo Mien Thein, a former chief minister of Yangon. (Reuters)