A 28-year-old man was killed as soldiers opened fire inside a mosque in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay township on Thursday morning.
Ko Htet was sleeping inside the Sule Mosque when the attack started around 10am. He had spent the night there after fasting, as Muslims around the world began observing Ramadan.
Soldiers started firing immediately after storming inside, according to witnesses. Ko Htet was shot in the chest and died at the scene.
He was a worker at an auto repair shop and had a five-year-old son. His family held a funeral on Thursday afternoon in accordance with Islamic customs.
Two other people, including a disabled man, were also injured in the shooting.
Ko Aung, 35, was shot in the back and waist while 42-year-old Min Min Latt, who does not have use of his hands, was injured in one of his arms.
At least five other people were detained – including three children aged 10, 11, and 16 who were also sleeping inside the mosque.
Elsewhere in the city on Thursday morning, soldiers broke up a protest column of medical workers before they had started marching and detained at least 16 people.
Meanwhile in Sagaing Region’s Monywa, prominent protest leader Wai Moe Naing was attacked and abducted by plainclothes officers during a rally.
The 26-year-old Muslim activist was riding a motorbike as part of a protest column on Myoma Shwebo Kyaung road when the officers rammed him with their vehicle.
The men, who were armed, then got out and snatched Wai Moe Naing as well as a female protester.
The pair were reportedly taken to the local town hall. Other protesters from the march ran away after the arrest, a relief worker said.
Wai Moe Naing has been participating in anti-coup street protests in Monywa constantly since February 6.
