Myanmar’s army said it is holding two soldiers who admitted to shooting dead an ethnic Karen mother of three children in eastern Kayin state last week, RFA reported.

On July 16, two privates went to Poloe Htar village carrying small firearms without permission, drank bootleg alcohol with three villagers, and accidentally shot the woman in the neck and back during a scuffle after one of the soldiers tried to grab a gold chain necklace, the military said in a statement.

Privates Hein Min Htet and Than Soe Lwin, whose gun killed the woman, ran and hid in a forest between the village and their military base, but surrendered on July 17. The two confessed to the shooting and are now being detained in a military prison in neighbouring Mon State, the report said quoting the army.