Myanmar army soldiers shot and killed a teenager in Mandalay on Saturday, one day after a junta-appointed administrator was assassinated by unidentified perpetrators in the city, according to local sources.
Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on 56-year-old Myat Htoo, a 100-household administrator in Chanmyathazi Township’s Kyun Lone Oak Shaun ward on June 23 in front of his home. He was with his 21-year-old son, Ye Myint Moe Htoo, at the time of the attack.
Myat Htoo died of a gunshot wound to the head, while Ye Myint Moe Htoo was hit in the stomach but survived, according to a ward resident.
At the time of reporting, no urban guerrilla group had claimed responsibility for the shooting.
At 10pm the next evening, two soldiers standing guard at the Ye Mon Taung ward administration office in Maha Aungmyay Township shot and killed a youth believed to be no older than 18 and who was identified as Sai Khant Kyaw, from Muse in northern Shan State.
He had reportedly been visiting relatives in Mandalay after passing his high school matriculation exam.
“We didn’t dare to go out and look, as there were soldiers there. He couldn’t move much after being shot and I heard he died after arriving at the hospital,” a woman who lives in the area told Myanmar Now. “Junta soldiers get drunk in front of that office and sometimes randomly fire gunshots, so no one really dares to pass by them.”
The military council did not return Sai Khant Kyaw’s body—which had gunshot wounds to the arms and abdomen—to his family, locals said.
Pro-junta propaganda Telegram channels reported that the two soldiers on guard at the office fired at four teenagers who had cursed at them while driving by on motorcycles and had accidentally hit the young man.
