Junta troops executed a resident of a village in Mandalay Region’s Madaya Township in broad daylight on Saturday, according to a source close to the victim’s family.
Wai Phyo Aung, 26, was arrested along with six others, including his parents, following a blast in his home village of Gwayt Gyi last Tuesday.
Regime forces investigating another explosion the previous day in the village of Kyaung Kone arrived in Gwayt Gyi and forced its entire population to assemble before making the arrests, the source said.
Both explosions apparently targeted junta-appointed administrators in the two villages.
“He was checking on one of his cows that was sick when his family told him that the military was doing a roll-call. He was taken into custody as soon as he returned to the village,” the source said of Wai Phyo Aung’s arrest.
His parents and younger brother, as well as three friends who had been charging their phones at his home, were also arrested.
His father, Win Aung, and mother, Myint Aye, were released three days later, but his brother, Pyae Phyo Aung, and the other three remain in military custody.
According to the source, junta troops returned to Gwayt Gyi with Wai Phyo Aung on Saturday to conduct further searches. Before leaving the village, they shot and killed him in the street.
Wai Phyo Aung worked for a private loan firm and also helped his family on their farm. Residents of Gwayt Gyi say they don’t know why he was executed, and the regime has not issued any statement regarding the incident.
Myanmar’s military denies targeting civilians. It claims that its operations are intended solely to protect local people from “terrorists” opposed to the regime that seized power last year.
Resistance forces say they only target junta-appointed administrators and military informants.
