A farmer was shot dead after he and his wife were intercepted by junta troops in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township early Tuesday morning, according to local sources.
Hla Ngwe, 33, and his 20-year-old wife were riding a motorcycle approximately 3km west of the village of Kone Hson when soldiers stopped them at around 8:30am, a local man told Myanmar Now.
“They didn’t ask any questions, they just opened fire. They shot him seven times. When his wife tried to come to his aid, a soldier kicked her and sent her reeling,” said the man, who did not want to be identified.
The soldiers then left the woman alone with her dead husband, he added.
Another resident of the area who was on his way to his hillside farm later encountered the woman and helped her bring the victim’s body to the village, according to the man.
“People here use these roads all the time to get to their farms. This is the first time anyone has been shot on this road,” he said.
The incident occurred a short distance from Kone Hson’s Htaing Taw Mu Pagoda, where a number of junta troops are stationed. Last year, fighting was reported on the hill where the pagoda is located.
According to local resistance forces, there are also regime forces based in several other villages in the area, including Shwepyiaye and Settaw.
In October 2021, junta troops abducted 19 residents of Shwepyiaye—which is also known as Kathea—for use as human shields. Most were later imprisoned, but at least two died in regime custody.
Pekhon Township borders Karenni (Kayah) State and is seen by the junta as key to its efforts to crush the fierce armed resistance movement that has emerged in ethnic Karenni areas since the military seized power in February 2021.
The Pyidaungsu Road, which passes through the township, is now under junta control and is used by the military to transport supplies to the Karenni capital Loikaw.
Pekhon is also just 200km by road from the junta’s capital Naypyitaw.
In late May and early June, regime forces killed at least a dozen civilians in Moebye, a town right on the Karenni border, according to local sources.