Insurgents operating from Bangladesh, Myanmar
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Burmese pastor beheaded in Indian border town
July 6, 2007: (Mizzima) In a ghastly incident, a Burmese pastor was beheaded by an unidentified group in Churachanpur, Manipur state, India on Thursday.
Pau Za Khen, a Zomi pastor and a Reverend of the Upper Myanmar Evangelical Lutheran Church, was abducted by four men from his daughter's home on July 4. His beheaded body was found the next day outside the town.
"He was having dinner in his daughter's home when four people came and asked him to come out saying they had to discuss something with him. Thereafter his whereabouts remained a mystery. But the next day on July 5, residents saw his body in a paddy field," a Burmese living in the town told Mizzima over telephone.
The mutilated body was found only early in the morning, a few yards from a settlement in Tangnuam village. The pastor's hands were tied at the back and his head had been separated from the torso and was blind-folded. The body was found at around 7.30 a.m. on July 5. After identifying the body an autopsy was conducted in the Churachandpur District Hospital mortuary, sources added. Later it was handed over to his family members for the last rites.
Town residents believe that the murder could be the handiwork of a group of anti-Indian insurgents.
The pastor founded the Khen Maan village, about three miles from the Indo-Burma border and was the head of the village.
Both the Indian Army and Manipuri rebels used to visit the village.