Singer and staunch junta supporter Lily Naing Kyaw was gunned down near her residence in Yangon’s Yankin Township on Tuesday and critically injured.
The celebrity was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after being shot as she returned home.
A pro-military telegram channel earlier reported that she had died on Tuesday night, however, the military junta announced on Wednesday night that the singer was shot in the head and is currently in critical condition. The junta said she is being treated at Mingaladon Military Hospital.
The 58-year-old is known as a prominent ultranationalist with close ties to top leaders of the military regime.
When the junta invited CNN’s Clarissa Ward and the Southeast Asia Globe for a guided media tour in April 2021, two months after the coup, Lily Naing Kyaw was selected to talk to them and portray anti-regime protesters as terrorists.
Lily Naing Kyaw told the Globe that she had been labeled a spy, with posters condemning her as a traitor appearing on lampposts in her neighborhood. She said her home was also vandalized and she had to go into hiding for her safety.
“My family is a military family and so I support the military and accept the coup. But most people in my neighborhood support the NLD and say they want to kill me,” the singer said. “These people want to destroy the nation.”
Her public support for the military coup and regime leaders has extended to appearances at junta-organized events and pro-military rallies. She has also been accused of being a military informant who sought the arrest of anti-coup protesters and resistance members in her Yankin neighborhood.
In March this year, she was a VIP guest at the 78th Armed Forces Day and the wedding of the son of the regime’s deputy Home Affairs minister. The wedding was also attended by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing.
The shooting of Lily Naing Kyaw is the latest in a series of shootings, many fatal, targeting prominent pro-regime figures. It comes just a few days after ultranationalist and hardcore military supporter U Tint Lwin was shot dead at a tea shop in Yangon’s North Dagon Township.
This story was updated at 12.30 p.m. on Thursday.
