Mandalay man dies after being shot in the back by regime troops

A local street vendor was killed by indiscriminate gunfire from regime troops in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township on Monday, an eyewitness told Myanmar Now.

Soldiers occupying a high school in Sein Pann ward opened fire in the area at around 7pm. Street vendor Zaw Shein was shot in the back with live ammunition when he went outside to see what was happening, according to the eyewitness. 

Zaw Shein was in his 40s and sold fried rice. A volunteer rescue worker who helped bring him for treatment at a local clinic said he was pronounced dead soon after arrival. 

“His condition was very critical even when he arrived. He’s now dead,” the rescue worker told Myanmar Now on Monday night.

The troops stationed at the high school have been carrying out nightly raids and arrests in Sein Pann ward, residents said. 

The eyewitness to Zaw Shein’s shooting, also a resident of Sein Pann, said that the gunfire continued until around 8:30pm on Monday night. 

Earlier that day, two people who were honking the horns of their motorbikes were shot by the troops. One was reportedly wounded in the leg, and the other in the arm. 

“The one who was wounded in the leg was arrested with the injury. The other one who was injured in the arm, managed to flee,” an eyewitness to the shooting told Myanmar Now.

Soldiers also shot a 14-year-old girl in the hand when they opened fire in Chanmyatharzi Township on April 21. A monk was also shot in the back with rubber bullets after troops raided a monastery in Maha Aungmyay Township on the same night.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group that has been monitoring the junta’s violence, at least 753 civilians have been killed by the regime’s troops nationwide since the February 1 coup.