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Security forces in Yangon earlier this week
Photo: LYNN BO BO / EPA
In Myanmar, the military junta has reportedly become increasingly ruthless against protesters.
According to the dpa news agency, eyewitness reports said more than half a dozen people were killed, most of them with targeted head shots.
Photos of corpses covered in blood were published on social networks.
According to the dpa, six people died in protests for the release of three arrested fellow citizens in front of a police station in the Myaing community.
"The police first aimed with tear gas and rubber bullets and then fired sharply," the dpa quoted an eyewitness.
The security forces in Myanmar have been using violence against demonstrators since the military coup on February 1.
The protesters are demanding the release of the de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi and the reinstatement of the elected government.
Two demonstrators were shot dead on Monday, and the prisoners' aid organization AAPP expects more than 60 deaths since the protests began.
The human rights organization Amnesty International recently announced that the killings of protesters amounted to "extrajudicial executions".
Violent police operations with fatalities were also reported from other parts of the country on Thursday.
At least one protester also died in the eastern part of the former capital Yangon.
Two others were injured.
“We were about 100 participants.
In the front row were demonstrators with self-made protective shields, "said an eyewitness to the dpa.
"The military aimed directly at them."
The UN Security Council condemned the violence for the second time within a few weeks on Wednesday.
The military junta, on the other hand, reported that the security forces were disciplined and would only use force when necessary.
Junta makes further allegations against Suu Kyi
Meanwhile, the junta is expanding its allegations against Aung San Suu Kyi.
She has illegally accepted gold and a sum of 600,000 US dollars and is now being prosecuted for this.
"The anti-corruption commission is on," said junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun on Thursday.
The 75-year-old has been under house arrest since the military came to power on February 1.
The basis for the arrest of Suu Kyi is an allegation by the military that Suu Kyi violated import laws by illegally bringing radios into Myanmar.
Most recently, the junta also charged her with inciting rioting.
She faces several years imprisonment for these alleged offenses alone.
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rgr / dpa / AFP / Reuters / AP