Six local supporters of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by junta personnel on Tuesday night in Mandalay’s Natogyi Township, their bodies found dumped along a roadside the following morning.
The victims were identified as Kyaw Saung and Khin Maung Sein, both 63; Han Tin, 42; Soe Paing, 37; Min Zaw, 36; and Aung Ko Min, who was 17 years old.
All were from Min village, five miles west of Natogyi town.
Their bodies were left in two locations—three at each spot—along the highway connecting Natogyi and Myingyan, also in Mandalay. They were all blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs.
Each had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
A resident of Min said that the victims had been taken from their homes by a force of around 40 Myanmar army soldiers and members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia.
“They came to our village at around 10pm last night, took six villagers, and killed them at around midnight,” the local told Myanmar Now on Wednesday, noting that the soldiers stood guard while the Pyu Saw Htee carried out the arrests.
He claimed that Min’s village administrator and his son had been accused by local anti-junta defence forces of being military informants and subsequently killed on Monday, one day before the six NLD supporters were abducted.
Known backers of the NLD, whose elected administration was deposed in the February 2021 coup, have repeatedly been targeted and killed by Pyu Saw Htee vigilante groups operating in Natogyi under the name Thway Thout, or “blood-sworn.”
Locals suspect that the militias have been operating with the support of the local chapter of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, a military proxy.
Myanmar Now called the party’s Natogyi Township secretary for comment on the allegation, but she refused.
“What are you talking about? Do you want to get slapped around? Don’t try to play me like this, I’m not stupid,” she yelled during the brief phone call.
In early November, four other NLD supporters from Natogyi Township were abducted by military personnel who also reportedly extorted money from their families. They were found to have been killed the next day, their bodies—some with wounds from gunshots, and others from being stabbed—left in two locations, near the villages of Let Pan and Zay Date.
Military and Pyu Saw Htee members are also accused of killing two 20-year-old waiters at a tea shop owned by a known NLD supporter in Natogyi’s Ward 5 on November 12. The staff were reportedly targeted when the junta forces were unable to locate the owner.
The badly mutilated bodies of five men arrested by junta soldiers in the township in October were found the next day near a highway and a rest stop with red lanyards identifying them as having been killed by the Thway Thout group.
In late April, Thwe Thout launched “Operation Red”—a campaign to “annihilate” anti-junta forces; since then, its members have been abducting and murdering NLD supporters other opponents of the coup regime around the country.
While most of its victims have been in Mandalay Region, attacks have also been reported in Bago, Naypyitaw, Tanintharyi and Yangon.
According to an NLD report issued on November 8, a total of 1,169 party members, among whom were 90 elected MPs, have been arrested by the junta since the coup. Sixty-seven members, including two parliamentarians, have been killed in military custody.
