A police officer from Ohnchaw, a village in Mandalay Region’s Patheingyi Township, was shot dead near a toll gate at the eastern entrance to Mandalay at around 2:30pm on Thursday, according to eyewitnesses.
Police Sergeant Lane Hone was riding a motorcycle towards Ohnchaw police station on the Mandalay-Pyin Oo Lwin Road when four young men, also on motorcycles, opened fire on him, sources told Myanmar Now.
“The four young men shot him at close range with pistols near the toll gate, and when his motorcycle fell to the ground, they stabbed him, many times. He could not move at all. He died on the spot,” said one man who witnessed the incident.
“When the four young men tried to run away, it seemed that the engine of one of the motorcycles could not start, so they left it,” he added.
After the assailants left, police cars arrived at the scene and took the victim’s body away, according to eyewitnesses.
Killings targeting regime forces and junta-appointed officials have become an almost daily occurrence in recent weeks, following brutal crackdowns on anti-coup protests that have claimed more than 840 civilian lives in the past four months.
Dozens of soldiers, policemen and general administrators have been killed, while bombings and arson attacks on government buildings have also become increasingly common.
On Tuesday, one soldier was killed and another was injured when a group of young men opened fire on them from a car as they were guarding Basic Education High School No 32 in Pyigyidagun Township, Mandalay.
On Tuesday night, another soldier stationed at the Lay Myat Hnar Pagoda in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township was killed in a bomb attack.
The junta’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the latest attack in the city on Thursday.
