Dozens of people have been killed by security forces in Myanmar, on the deadliest day since last month's military takeover of the country.

At least 89 deaths, including children, were recorded by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group.

"They are killing us like birds or chickens, even in our homes," local resident Thu Ya Zaw told Reuters news agency in the central town of Myingyan. "We will keep protesting regardless."

The lethal crackdown came as protesters defied warnings and took to the streets on the annual Armed Forces Day.

US, UK and EU officials condemned the violence, with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab describing it as a "new low".

The latest deaths would take the number killed in the suppression of protests in Myanmar since the 1 February coup to more than 400.

The military seized control of the South East Asian country after an election which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won by a landslide.

"It's a massacre, it's not a crackdown anymore," Kyaw Win said.

 

The AAPP, which has been tracking the numbers of people killed and detained since the coup, said it expected Saturday's death toll to rise.

 

Local news site Myanmar Now put the toll at more than 90, while the United Nations said it was receiving reports of "scores killed" and hundreds more injured across 40 locations.

 

In Yangon, gunshots were fired at the US cultural centre. The US embassy said those shots caused no injuries.

 

Among the dead were four outside a police station in the Dala suburb of Yangon, Myanmar Now reported.

 

Witnesses and sources told BBC Burmese of protester deaths in the cities and townships of Magway, Mogok, Kyaukpadaung and Mayangone.

Deaths were also reported on the streets of the second-largest city Mandalay, as protesters carried the flag of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Myanmar's detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and gave their now traditional anti-authoritarian three-finger salute.

 

One journalist told AFP news agency police had used live ammunition against protesters in the north-eastern city of Lashio.

 

The EU delegation to Myanmar said: "This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces day will stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonour. The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts."

 

Dr Sasa, a spokesman for anti-junta group CRPH, told Reuters it was "a day of shame for the armed forces".

 

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Asia, described the scenes as "shocking, horrible, barbaric and unacceptable".

"It's quite clear that this is the bloodiest day," he told the BBC.

 

 

What did the coup leader say?

 

 

The military has not commented on the killings. In an Armed Forces Day TV address, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing reiterated a promise to hold elections, but did not give any timeframe.

 

"The army seeks to join hands with the entire nation to safeguard democracy," he said.

 

"Violent acts that affect stability and security in order to make demands are inappropriate."

 

He added that the army had to seize power because of "unlawful acts" by democratically-elected leader Ms Suu Kyi and her party.

 

However, he did not specifically say that the military had been given shoot-to-kill orders. The junta has previously tried to claim that shootings have come from among the protesters.

 

Armed Forces Day commemorates the start of Myanmar's military resistance against Japanese occupation in 1945.

 

A military parade in the capital Naypyitaw was attended by Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin.

 

Other countries, including China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand, sent representatives but not ministers, according to Reuters.

 

The US, UK and EU have all imposed sanctions in response to the military coup. Myanmar and Russia's defence ties have grown in recent years. In that time Moscow has provided training to thousands of soldiers, and has sold arms to the military.

Myanmar profile

 

• Myanmar, also known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948. For much of its modern history, it has been under military rule

 

• Restrictions began loosening from 2010 onwards, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government headed by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year

 

• In 2017, Myanmar's army responded to attacks on police by Rohingya militants with a deadly crackdown, driving more than half a million Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh in what the UN later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing"

 

• Country profile

 

BBC