Myanmar Military Sentences 19 to Death, Says Anti-Coup Protests Dwindling

Nineteen people have been sentenced to death in Myanmar for killing an associate of an army captain, the military-owned Myawaddy TV station said Friday. These are the first such sentences announced in public since a February 1 coup and crackdown on protesters. 

The report said the killing took place on March 27 in the North Okkalapa district of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. Martial law has been declared in the district, allowing courts-martial to pronounce sentences.  The military rulers who overthrew an elected government said on Friday that a protest campaign against its rule was dwindling because people wanted peace, and that it would hold elections within two years, the first timeframe it has given for a return to democracy.  Troops fired rifle grenades at anti-coup protesters on Friday in the town of Bago, near Yangon, witnesses and news reports said. At least 10 people were killed, and their bodies were piled inside a pagoda, they said.