A Myanmar military tribunal has sentenced six soldiers to 10 years in prison for killing three civilians in the war-torn state of Kachin, officials said Saturday, in a move welcomed by rights groups.

The Kachin state police office said the tribunal handed down the sentence after finding the soldiers guilty of killing three ethnic Kachin civilians in September.

Kachin state is home to an ethnic rebel army that has been fighting Myanmar’s military for years. More than 100,000 people in the state have fled the fighting.

The three civilians who were killed were among a group of five detained by soldiers in May while they were returning to their camp after gathering firewood. Two of the men were released, but three others never returned to the camp. Their bodies were later found in a shallow grave.