Prominent Pyu Saw Htee militia leader assassinated in Bago Region

The People’s Defence Team (PDT) for Minhla Township, Bago Region claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the fatal shooting of Myo Myint Aung, a notorious leader of the township’s junta-trained Pyu Saw Htee militia, the previous day. The anti-junta resistance group said they assassinated the militia leader for his active involvement in implementing the Myanmar military regime’s new forcible recruitment policy. Myo Myint Aung—also known as Aung Aung—was shot twelve times at noon on Monday at his home in Minhla’s Ward 8, the PDT’s statement said. “First we fired two shots. Both hit him,” Minhla PDT spokesperson Moe Htet said. “He became scared, yelled, and attempted to flee into his house. We fired off another 10 rounds, and he was lying face down in the doorway, motionless.” Moe Htet added that Myo Myint Aung is a township-level leader of the infamous Pyu Saw Htee militia, which has been organised, armed, and trained by the military regime in various parts of the country to assist the army in fighting anti-junta forces. Seeing her husband had been gunned down, Myo Myint Aung’s wife had tried to attack the PDT fighters with a pair of scissors, Moe Htet said. However, as she was not a military target the PDT members did not attempt to harm her and only fired a warning shot. “We have been trying to shoot him for a long time. Now we’ve succeeded,” the PDT spokesperson said. “We didn't have time to search his house for weapons because we carried out the shooting in a populated area and had to retreat without delay.” He said he heard that Myo Myint Aung died on the way to Yangon General Hospital. Myanmar Now was unable to confirm this claim independently. Myo Myint Aung, 44, was previously a member of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party. He later joined the People’s Pioneer Party (PPP) led by junta minister Thet Thet Khaing, but later ended his membership. Myo Myint Aung at a Pyu Saw Htee militia training session (Photo: Minhla PDT) Myo Myint Aung was an outspoken and prominent supporter of the Myanmar military. Based on photo evidence shown to Myanmar Now, he often associated with and hosted uniformed and armed officers from locally based army battalions in his home, and the military provided him with weapons. According to the Minhla PDT’s statement, he became a target of the resistance forces for serving as an informant, collaborating with the junta in identifying and arresting activists opposed to military rule, and assisting forcible recruitment operations in accordance with the junta’s new conscription policy, which was introduced in February. The Minhla PDT will continue to take retributive action against people involved in such activities, the statement said. Myanmar Now was unable to reach Myo Myint Aung’s family for comment on the assassination. Tin Oo, a regional minister and spokesperson for the government of Bago Region, did not respond when Myanmar Now attempted to reach him by phone. Posts on pro-junta propaganda channels on social media acknowledged that the former PPP township party chair Myo Myint Aung had been shot dead at his home. Since the military regime announced plans to enforce a decade-old conscription law in February, junta administrators involved in implementing the policy through population surveys and selection lotteries have become targets for assassination by resistance forces. During the third week of March, two village administrators were shot dead in Mandalay and Magway regions. To date, more than 30 people involved in the forced implementation of the junta’s conscription law have been killed throughout the country. The reactivated conscription law requires all adults of eligible age to serve in the military for up to five years. Attempting to resist or evade selection for mandatory military service is punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. The junta claimed that 14 million people in Myanmar are eligible for military service and that the process of training the first batch of 5,000 recruits would begin after the Thingyan holidays in April.

Prominent Pyu Saw Htee militia leader assassinated in Bago Region

Myo Myint Aung, who is known for his outspoken support of the military and assistance in implementing the regime’s new conscription policy, was gunned down at his home in Minhla

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