A woman was shot in the head during a Thursday morning military raid on a home in Tanintharyi Region’s Launglon Township, according to the local anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) chapter.
An information officer from the Launglon PDF explained that 40-year-old Mee Wai’s house in Pyin Gyi village, more than 20 miles north of Launglon town, was immediately targeted in the 6am attack, but for unknown reasons.
“They arrived in cars, started firing weapons, and took money and valuables from the house,” he said, adding that gold, money, a motorcycle and a phone were among the items taken.
Both Myanmar army soldiers and members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia were involved, he told Myanmar Now.
The troops have been blaming assaults and robberies in the region on resistance groups, the PDF spokesperson said, denying the accusation.
“Those villages are located near the Pyu Saw Htee villages and they have so many supporters there, so it would be hard for us to launch an attack there,” he explained.
Mee Wai survived the shooting but was in serious condition and undergoing treatment for her injuries at Launglon’s hospital at the time of reporting.
Both a local and the Launglon PDF spokesperson identified her late husband as Zaw Myo Oo, an administrator for Tha Bawt Seik village, in the same tract as Pyin Gyi.
They claimed that Zaw Myo Oo was an early member of a junta-backed militia and had been murdered by unidentified perpetrators last September even before the area PDF had formed.
“Before he died, he would terrorise the village with his gun and that was why he was assassinated,” the information officer said.
Myanmar Now is unable to verify the claims about the slain administrator, nor speculate as to why his widow was targeted in Thursday’s attack.
According to a statement by the Launglon PDF, 50 troops from the Myanmar army and the Pyu Saw Htee 50 troops had previously raided the village of Nyaw Pyin, 30 miles south of Launglon town, on Wednesday morning.
The joint forces reportedly looted the home of a man who worked in a local fishery, stealing gold, cash totalling 1.7m kyat (more than US$800), and threatening to “burn the entire village to ashes” if news of the incident spread.
The military council has not released any information on its troops activities in Launglon Township.
