A man who was arrested in Yangon Region’s Twante Township late last month was reported dead a week later, according to a local resistance source.
Thant Zin Oo, 37, was one of eight people detained during a raid targeting suspected anti-regime forces in the village of Myago on October 29, the source said. His wife and two daughters, aged one and 13, were among those taken into custody.
A spokesperson for the Twante Urban Guerrilla Force told Myanmar Now that Thant Zin Oo, who owned a motorcycle repair shop, was reported dead a week later.
“A relative of the victim was notified of his death. The family didn’t get the body back. They were only told that it had been sent to the military hospital in Mingaladon,” said the spokesperson, who goes by the name Twantay.
He added that Thant Zin Oo was so badly beaten while in custody that his teeth had been knocked out. Members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia were also reportedly involved in torturing him during his interrogation.
According to Twantay, around 10 plainclothes junta personnel took part in the raid on Thant Zin Oo’s home, where they also arrested four men in their 20s and 30s and seized appliances, motorcycle repair tools, and other property.
“I heard that the regime forces were soldiers stationed in Zee Phyu Khone,” he said, referring to a village where four junta-appointed administrators and an alleged military informer were shot dead in August.
While Thant Zin Oo’s wife and children were released two days after their detention, the others have since been held at an Infantry Battalion 70 base a short distance south of Twante, sources reported.
According to Twantay, two more men were arrested in the village of Ohn Pin Chaung on the same day, but further details, including the reason for their arrests, were not available.
Residents of Twante took part in anti-coup protests in the wake of the February 2021 military takeover, resulting in crackdowns that left a number of local civilians dead.
Since then, anti-regime groups have carried out multiple attacks on junta targets, including civilian administrators.
In June, a member of a local resistance group named Thet Naing Oo was arrested and later reported dead of injuries sustained during his interrogation.
Regime forces carried out a wave of arrests in the wake of the August attack in Zee Phyu Khone. At least one person, a 40-year-old supporter of Myanmar’s ousted ruling party named Khin Myo Nwe, later died in custody.
The families of both victims were never allowed to claim their bodies.
