The township chair of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Bilin, Mon State, was fatally shot in the head on Thursday morning, according to a party statement.
Myint Swe, 64, and his wife were walking to their rambutan plantation in Bilin at around 8am when two assailants on a motorbike shot at the couple, the party said.
“He died instantly at the scene. His wife was slightly injured and has already been sent to Mawlamyine hospital,” a local emergency rescue worker told Myanmar Now.
A bullet grazed Myint Swe’s wife’s neck, he explained.
Myint Swe ran for an Upper House parliamentary seat in the 2020 general election and was defeated by a candidate from the National League for Democracy (NLD).
He served as a secretary for the USDP branch office in Bilin Township from 2010 until 2014 when he became the township party chair.
At the time of reporting, it was unconfirmed who had perpetrated Thursday’s attack or what the motive may have been.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the February 1 coup that deposed the NLD-led civilian government, with the military using excessive and lethal force to crush the anti-coup movement across the country.
Many pro-military individuals, including USDP members and their allies, have been accused of being informants—known as dalan in Burmese—for tipping off regime authorities with information about pro-democracy activists’ activities and whereabouts.
The junta-appointed ward administrators and their offices have been targeted in bomb attacks in many towns and cities across the country.
Myo Lwin, the administrator of the No. 3 ward in Yangon’s Lanmadaw Township, was also shot in the head and killed near his house on 8th Street on May 18, soon after an explosion was also reported at his office.
On Tuesday, a parcel bomb exploded at a wedding in Yangon’s Thingangyun Township, killing the bride and two other people. The groom is believed to be connected to the Yeomanry Development Party (YDP), founded by notorious far-right nationalist Michael Kyaw Myint.
At least eight explosions were reported on Thursday morning in multiple locations throughout Thaketa Township, also in Yangon, and a local administrator who lived in the area was shot dead by three men.
