Myanmar government rebuts massacre reports as 'conspiracy'

Myanmar's military-installed government has described as 'fake news' reports that its troops were involved in a widely reported massacre in the country's northwest in which soldiers allegedly rounded up and killed 11 civilians whose charred bodies were later discovered by fellow villagers.

The denial was published Friday as opponents of the military's February takeover put on a show of strength, with citizens staying off the streets in cities and towns in what was called a "silent strike."

A report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused "the nation-destroying media" of spreading a video that it said misrepresented the massacre as having been carried out by Myanmar security forces.

"The initial on-ground investigation revealed that such a video file was not (at all) related to undertakings of the Tatmadaw and that it was a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the Tatmadaw," the report said, using the formal name for the country's military. It gave no further details about the killings.

"The video has been immediately and widely circulated on social media because of a conspiracy by local and international connections," the report said.