MYANMAR ANTI-COUP PROTEST DEATH TOLL ZOOMS PAST 550

Security forces in central Myanmar opened fire on anti-coup protesters on Saturday, killing at least two people according to local media. A human rights group said mounting violence since the Feb. 1 military takeover has killed at least 550 civilians, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Of those, 46 were children, according to Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Some 2,751 people have been detained or sentenced, the group said. Reuters reported that five people were killed on Saturday.

The military has said those killed instigated violence. It says it staged the coup because a November election won by Suu Kyi's party was rigged. The election commission has dismissed the assertion.

"People are still protesting every day because we believe strongly that this is a fight between good and evil," protest leader Tayzar San said in an audio message to Reuters.

Threats of lethal violence and arrests of protesters have failed to suppress daily demonstrations across Myanmar demanding the military step down and reinstate the democratically elected government.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

Meanwhile, the Karen National Union representing the ethnic minority rebel group that has been fighting the government for decades condemned “non-stop bombings and airstrikes” against villages and "unarmed civilians” in their homeland along the border with Thailand.

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