An unknown group abducted and murdered a man and his adult son in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township on Monday, according to local sources.
The victims, who ran a business together in the village of Nabu Ai, were found dead the following morning on the Myingyan-Myotha road near the Pauk Sein village crossroads in neighbouring Ngazun Township, the sources said.
The body of Hla Ni, 57, had a bullet wound and three stab wounds, while the head and face of his son, 38-year-old Thein Wai Oo, were completely crushed, a resident of their home village told Myanmar Now.
“The son didn’t even have a proper face anymore. It was just so cruel,” the said the Nabu Ai villager, adding that both victims also had their hands tied behind their backs.
The two men were abducted at their family-run bakery at around 10pm on Monday by a group of at least 10 men armed with guns and knives, residents said.
“They looked at the younger son first, but said he wasn’t the one they were looking for. They made him sit somewhere else and then abducted the father and older son, putting bags over their heads,” said the villager, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They also took jewellery and 10 million kyat [US$4,750] in cash from the daughter,” he added.
It was unclear who was responsible for the murders, but some locals said the grisly manner in which they were carried out suggested that the perpetrators were members of Thwe Thout, a pro-junta “vigilante” group that targets supporters of Myanmar’s ousted civilian government.
However, local sources confirmed that the victims and other members of their family were not involved in politics.
According to a statement released by the anti-regime Myingyan People’s Movement Committee, the assailants were led by two members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia—a man named Nga Pauk from the village of Lel Thit and another named Win Kyaing from Kan Hla, a village in Pakokku Township, across the Ayeyarwady River in neighbouring Magway Region.
“They were among the people that came to arrest the victims,” said a Myingyan resident, confirming the committee’s claims.
“I’ve been told that the rest of the group were also their people. They’ve carried out quite a few incidents like this around here,” he added.
Win Kyaing was reportedly among the first in the region to receive weapons from the regime during the early stages of the armed resistance movement that emerged from crackdowns on anti-coup protests in 2021.
“He was getting weapons from the military even before the PDF was formed,” said the Myingyan resident, referring to the People’s Defence Force established by the shadow National Unity Government in response to the junta’s killing of civilians.
Pro-junta Telegram channels, which seldom comment on atrocities committed by the regime or its proxies, claimed that the victims were murdered by revolutionary groups.
