People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters on Tuesday shot and killed a local administrator accused of helping the junta to detain anti-coup activists in Mon State, prompting soldiers to arrest several residents in the area.
Two male attackers wearing wigs and women’s clothing arrived at the home of Win Aung, the administrator of Western Chaungzon ward in Chaungzon Township, at around 4:30pm on a motorbike, a PDF member told Myanmar Now.
“Our troops pretended to be girls filling out guest lists at his home,” he said. “One of them drove the motorbike and the other went inside to do the deed.”
The killer shot Win Aung in the chest, he added. The administrator had been accepting local residents at his home so they could register overnight guests, part of a nationwide effort by the junta to strengthen its surveillance network.
A Chaungzon resident who lives near Win Aung’s neighbourhood said they learned about the killing while visiting the local public hospital on Wednesday morning.
“I heard from the hospital that a 61-year-old man was shot in the chest,” said the local.
After the killing, soldiers tried to arrest a woman who was said to have had a feud with Win Aung, but instead detained her sister, Ei Moe, when they were unable to locate her, the resident said. Two other men were also arrested after the killing, they added.
Win Aung was accused of helping soldiers to detain at least five people last month. They included a 47-year-old man named Win Htay and three university students, the PDF member said.
The administrator was also involved in military crackdowns against anti-coup protests in Chaungzon, he added. Win Aung was a member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and was appointed as an administrator after the coup.
Myanmar Now was unable to contact his family regarding the allegations against him.
Scores of local administrators have resigned across the country in recent weeks following threats from PDF fighters.
In Chaungzon’s Tawpakauk village, a suspected military informant named Par Pyu was shot and injured on Saturday. Then on Sunday a bomb exploded at the home of the administrator of Chanugzon’s Toe Che ward, though no one was injured.
In May the USDP chair in Mon’s Bilin Township, Myint Swe, was shot and killed by unknown attackers.
