The death toll as a result of the coup in Myanmar has topped 1,000.
According to the secretary of the activist group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) Tate Naing, 1,001 innocent people have been killed.
Speaking to Reuters, he said that the actual number of victims is much higher.
The activist group has been recording the number of killings by the military forces.
A spokesman for the ruling junta did not respond to a call to request comment.
The military authorities have previously said the AAPP figures, widely cited by international organizations, are exaggerated.
The army has also said scores of members of the security forces have been killed. The AAPP does not include them in its count.
AAPP’s joint secretary Ko Bo Gyi said, “As long as the military is in power, they will continue to kill youths, professionals like doctors and teachers, men, women, and children.”
“They are not only killing our lives but the country’s future and democratic hopes.”
The AAPP has been named an “unlawful” organization by the junta and is currently in hiding.
The country has been in turmoil since February 1, when the armed forces seized power in a lightning coup, triggering dissent as protesters demanded a return to democracy.
Security forces responded with bloody crackdowns, using live rounds against civilians. But anti-junta mobs are still taking to the streets daily in flash marches.
The army overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, alleging irregularities in an election swept by her National League for Democracy party in November 2020. The then electoral commission and international monitors said the army accusations were wrong.
The military authorities say their seizure of power should not be called a coup because it was in line with the constitution.
