Five members of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were shot and killed in Mandalay’s Myingyan and Natogyi townships last week, according to an officer in a local resistance group who maintained its members were not involved in the murders.
On October 2, Shwe Kyee, 50; Maung Tin, 67; Tin Shwe, 58; and Kyaw Myo Aung, 34, were killed in Suyit Kone village in Natogyi. The following afternoon, 50-year-old local administrator Naing Oo from the village of Pattar, 11 kilometres west of Myingyan, died after being shot three times.
All five men reportedly belonged to the USDP.
The Myingyan-based Daung Min Taman guerrilla force confirmed their deaths to Myanmar Now but noted that the perpetrators were unknown.
An officer in the group alleged that the victims had acted as informants for the junta.
“These people provided information to the authorities regarding the activities of resistance fighters—their role was to inform the military council about those supporting or participating in the revolution, which led to activists being beaten or arrested,” he said, adding, “That’s why they were killed.”
“They were not killed because of what party they belonged to. They were killed because they caused problems for local people.”
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the claims against the deceased.
On October 3, pro-junta online platforms reported the deaths of the five individuals, pointing to the involvement of resistance groups.
That day, anti-junta forces also attacked a vehicle carrying three members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia, more than 14km north of Myingyan town. They were wounded but reportedly survived.
Two other cars carrying junta troops were hit with explosives on October 3 between Kan and Kan Htaunt villages in Natogyi. Battalion 3 of the Mandalay District People’s Defence Force and local ally Myingyan Black Tiger claimed responsibility for that ambush.
Around 50 soldiers responded by searching the surrounding area, a resident told Myanmar Now on October 4.
Attacks on informants and militiamen are typically met with intensified violence by Myanmar army troops, often directed against civilians.
On September 10, a village chair of the USDP in Gyoke Pin, nearly 5km south of Myingyan, was shot dead in his home. Junta troops raided the community that night, detaining and killing three villagers.
Four people accused of being military informants were killed in Pyoe Kan, 24km east of Myingyan on September 27, and a column of around 30 regime soldiers subsequently occupied and looted homes in the village, according to Radio Free Asia.
