Seven junta-appointed administrators including members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and some accused of being junta informants were killed in a period of nine days in Myanmar from June 18.
Following the military’s Feb. 1 coup, ward administration offices, which are the key to the junta’s ability to govern the country, initially suffered from a series of arson and bomb attacks.
Then, junta-appointed ward or village administrators and regime informants increasingly became targeted for collaborating with the junta’s forces in arresting anti-regime protesters, striking government staff, civilian resistance fighters and others opposing military rule.
During the past nine days, killings of ward administrators and junta informants were reported in Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing regions and Mon and Karen states.
On Saturday morning, U Nyo Aye, 54, who had been accused of being a junta informant, was stabbed to death by unknown gunmen, according to news reports.
Also, U Than Zaw, the junta-appointed ward administrator of Yangon’s Kyauktan Township, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his ward office on Friday evening. During the attack, another ward administration official and a police officer wearing civilian clothes were injured.
On the same day, USDP member U Nu Tin, who had been accused of being a junta informant, was shot dead by gunmen in Nyaung Hla Village in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township.
Following the attack, junta soldiers have been deployed in the village and most residents have fled Nyaung Hla, sources told media.
On Wednesday, a regime appointed ward administrator in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township and a teashop owner in Yangon’s Hlaing Township were shot dead after being accused of being junta informants.
Locals told the media that around 20 anti-regime protesters in No. 13 ward in Hlaing Township had been arrested by the junta based on information provided to the junta by teashop owner U Kyaw Aye.
On Monday, another junta-appointed village administrator was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Naung Bo Village in Mon State’s Thaton Township. Following the killing of the village head, two other village administrators from two nearby villages resigned from their positions on June 24 and 25.
On June 18, the junta-appointed village administrator of Yonesigyi Village in Mandalay’s Taungthar Township was shot dead by the Taungthar Youth Guerrilla force.
The group told Myanmar Now media that it had to kill the village head since the administrator was attempting to have peaceful anti-regime protesters arrested by reporting them to the junta’s forces.
Between May 27 and June 3, around 18 administrators including some accused of being junta informants were also killed.
The Myanmar military regime said at a press conference on June 12 that a total of 173 people accused of being junta informants had been killed.
To counter the anti-regime movement, Myanmar’s military regime has formed Pyu Saw Htee vigilante groups of military supporters across the country. The group members are trained and armed with firearms.
Junta forces continue to use violence in crackdowns, raids and detentions, and several civilians are killed each day.
As of Friday, at least 881 people had been killed by the military regime, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is documenting the death toll and arrests.
More than 5,100 people including elected leaders, National League for Democracy members, election commissioners, doctors, journalists, protesters, writers and artists have been detained.
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