An alleged regime informant and a clerk from the local military council were shot dead in Yangon within a 24-hour period this week.
An eyewitness told Myanmar Now that 38-year-old Sein Hlaing Win, also known as Kyar Gyi, was killed while selling fish in a neighbourhood market alongside his wife in Thingangyun Township at 7:30am on Tuesday.
“He was shot in the head, just one shot. He was found lying in a pool of blood. One man was pretending to be a customer while another man behind him shot him and then ran into an alley,” the eyewitness said.
He added that Sein Hlaing Win had been accused of having ties to the Pyu Saw Htee, a group said to have been formed following the February 1 coup to counter the anti-junta resistance movement. He was also believed to be close to ultranationalist members of the People’s Pioneer Party, and allegedly assisted them with campaigns in the 2020 election.
“He informed the military about the activities of young protesters. Many people called him an informer. They said he was linked with the Pyu Saw Htee. He also gathered people for rallies to support the army,” the eyewitness, who also lives in the area, explained.
On Monday, a woman who worked as a clerk in the military-run general administration office in South Dagon Township’s 72nd ward was killed after being shot three times just after 5pm. She had held the post since the previous National League for Democracy government was in power, but did not step down following the coup.
The shooting occurred in front of Myat Myat Htwe’s home on the corner of Khatta and Aung Thabyay roads.
“She returned home by bicycle from her office. Two men on a motorcycle followed her. While she was putting the bicycle kickstand down in front of her home, they shot her. She was shot in the chest three times. She died while she was being transported to a hospital,” a local said, citing eyewitnesses.
He added that Myat Myat Htwe, who was in her 40s, was not known as a military informer, but was widely disliked by residents of the ward, even more so than the junta-appointed administrator in whose office she worked.
“The junta-appointed administrator did not give the community trouble, so there was no problem. But the clerk was dictatorial. She had a rough mouth. She has been hated by people for a long time,” the local said.
Myanmar Now was unable to verify claims regarding the deceased’s alleged negative interactions with members of the ward.
After the murders of Sein Hlaing Win and Myat Myat Htwe, the junta’s troops carried out searches of homes in the respective areas, and in the case of Sein Hlaing Win, temporarily closed the market where he was killed.
A local in South Dagon’s 72nd ward said that following the shooting of Myat Myat Htwe, regime soldiers inspected all motorcycles in the area and continued to do so on Tuesday. They reported that some people in the neighbourhood had been arrested, but further information regarding the arrests was not available at the time of reporting.
Since early May, the junta’s local administrators, alleged informers and members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party have been targeted for assassination nationwide. In Yangon, two regime soldiers were also injured in a June 18 bomb explosion at the quarter administration office on Nga Moe Yeik 5th Street in Thingangyun Township.
On June 21, at least 10 people were sentenced to death in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township in connection with the murder of alleged informers.
Myat Myat Htwe’s murder marks the first such killing in South Dagon, one of six Yangon townships under martial law. Following the March 15 declaration, more than 20 people in South Dagon were killed in a two-day brutal crackdown by the junta, but resistance to the coup regime has continued.
