A man accused of being a military informant was assassinated in the Karen State town of Payathonzu on the Myanmar-Thai border on Wednesday afternoon.
Maung Kyaw, who was in his 40s, reportedly had close ties to the military allied Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), and was often involved in crackdowns on anti-regime protests in Payathonzu, or Three Pagodas, a local told Myanmar Now.
On April 24, regime armed forces in the town chased and purposely crashed vehicles into protesters who were rallying on motorbikes. Four people were arrested, and one woman suffered life threatening injuries, according to a report by the Karen Information Center.
“Apparently Maung Kyaw was the man giving directions from inside the car that was hitting motorbikes in the protest,” another local said.
Maung Kyaw had been targeted earlier this month, when a bomb went off near his home on the morning of June 2.
After the explosion, BGF troops stationed near his house almost immediately opened fire in the area. No casualties were reported on that day, according to a report by Thoolei News, which operates under the information department of the Karen National Union.
One week prior to Maung Kyaw’s murder, Mi Wai Thi Phyo, a 2020 Upper House candidate for the Mon Unity Party from Kyain Seikgyi Township—where Payathonzu is located—was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
The administrator for Ward 4 in Payathonzu, Kyaw Zin Min, was also killed on May 19. He was a retired deputy commander of a Myanmar military battalion.
Both the perpetrators and the motives for the murders remain unknown.
