A man whose son was killed last week while fighting junta troops in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region has been in regime custody since Friday, according to members of his family.
Soldiers came to arrest Tun Min Latt, 50, on Friday evening, hours after an offering of food was made to monks in memory of his son, 20-year-old Palaw People’s Defence Force (PDF) member Saw Bwar, who had died two days earlier.
“They asked him if he was Tun Min Latt and said they had some questions for him. He asked them what it was about, but they told him to not ask any questions and took him away. They also took his phone,” said a relative who did not want to be named.
An officer of the Palaw PDF confirmed that Saw Bwar’s father had been detained.
“His father was taken away after photos of him appeared online. He lives in Dawei, and three military trucks showed up at his home to arrest him,” said the Palaw PDF officer.
Last Wednesday, members of the Palaw PDF and the Karen National Defence Organization (KNDO) mounted a pre-dawn assault on junta soldiers stationed at a monastery in Pa Wut Kone, a village south of the town of Palaw.
Although a number of regime troops were killed in the attack, three resistance fighters, including Saw Bwar, were also shot dead by snipers, a Palaw PDF spokesperson told Myanmar Now at the time.
Relatives of Tun Min Latt said they still don’t know where he is being held. He had previously been detained for 14 days at the Infantry Battalion 285 base in Palaw after his son joined the PDF last November, a family member said.
He was released after signing a pledge and moved from Palaw to Dawei soon after, according to the relative.
Regime officials contacted by Myanmar Now were unavailable for comment.
