Two men shot dead by military while driving through Yangon 

Myanmar army soldiers shot and killed two young men in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar this week for allegedly driving through a military checkpoint.

The victims, Wai Yan and Toe Gyi—whose ages were not confirmed at the time of reporting—were travelling together on a motorcycle on Monday when they were reportedly ordered by troops to stop at the Shwe Lin Pan bridge on Kyan Sitthar Road. 

When they failed to do so, the soldiers at the scene fired at them, according to a representative of HTY Information, an online page which reports news in the township. 

Wai Yan was killed at the scene and Toe Gyi died of his injuries after being admitted to the hospital, the individual said, citing sources within the junta police force. 

After the shooting, online rumours began circulating that the young men had been members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force, and that they were linked to another murder earlier that day of a military-appointed administrator in Hlaing Tharyar’s sixth ward. 

A junta mouthpiece reported on its Telegram channel that soldiers had fired shots at a motorcycle being ridden by three “suspicious” people, and that one was killed on the spot, one was captured alive, and one escaped. 

The report claimed that a dagger, slingshot and bicycle axle cones—to be used as projectiles—were seized from the men and alleged that they had been acting as scouts for the assailants behind the killing of the local administrator. 

The source from HTY Information dismissed the narrative as false and maintained the two men were civilians who were arbitrarily murdered. 

“They were shot because they didn’t stop their motorcycle. The whole township and even the junta soldiers that shot them know the truth,” he said. 

While Wai Yan’s body was returned to his family in Shwe Lin Pan ward and his funeral held later in the week, at the time of reporting, Toe Gyi’s remains had not yet been sent to his family, a relative told Myanmar Now.

“The family is still very confused, and they don’t know if he is actually even dead,” the individual said.

The military council has not released an official statement on the matter, but has repeatedly alleged that people killed by their armed forces were members of resistance forces or “terrorists.”