One electricity department worker was shot dead and another injured in Mandalay on Sunday amid increasing attacks by resistance forces aimed at preventing the junta from raising revenue from household utility bills.
A group of people on four motorbikes shot the two as they walked down the street in the Kyay Nan Win neighborhood in Chan Aye Tharzan Township, a local resident said. No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Myanmar Now could not confirm the victims’ names but residents said one collected electricity bills from residents in the Lat Yway neighbourhood, and the other worked in Tharyar Kone, which is in Aungmyethazan Township.
“We could only find out that they were personnel from the electricity offices collecting electricity bills,” said a resident of Lat Yway, who did not witness the attack. “The Tharyar Kone officer died on the spot while the Lat Yway officer managed to survive. The shooters came on four motorcycles, I heard.”
There were also unconfirmed reports on social media of explosions on Saturday at two electricity offices – one on 59th street in Chan Aye Tharzan and another in Amarapura Township.
Anti-coup protesters have urged people across the country to stop paying their electricity bills as part of a bid to cut off the junta’s sources of funding. The military council has responded by stepping up efforts to collect payments and sending soldiers to intimidate people who don’t pay.
Since early July, electricity office staff have gone from house to house in some Yangon townships threatening to cut off people’s power unless they pay.
Three electricity offices were bombed in the Yangon townships of Mingalardon, Lanmadaw and Sanchuang on Friday. In the days preceding those attacks, there were also bombings at electricity offices in Hlaing, Tamwe and Thingangyun townships in Yangon as well as in Bago.
