Militants against navy rule have claimed accountability for the killing of former lieutenant colonel and deputy director-general of the military-appointed Union Election Fee Sai Kyaw Thu.
(AA Archive)
A prime election official in Myanmar has been fatally shot in his automotive in Yangon, the nation’s industrial capital, within the newest assault attributed to militants against navy rule.
Sai Kyaw Thu, deputy director-general of the military-appointed Union Election Fee, was shot a number of instances on Saturday, in line with the navy’s info workplace, media experiences and a press release of accountability from an city guerrilla group.
The data workplace on Sunday stated the assault was carried out by the Individuals’s Protection Drive, the loosely organised armed wing of the pro-democracy Nationwide Unity Authorities, an underground group that opposes the military-installed authorities that was established when the military seized energy two years in the past.
Many opposition forces together with native Individuals’s Protection Drive teams function autonomously from the Nationwide Unity Authorities however the navy labels all of them as “terrorists.”
A resistance group calling itself “For The Yangon” stated it carried out the assault on Sai Kyaw Thu, a former lieutenant colonel. It declared “Mission: Completed” in a Fb publish on Saturday night that was illustrated with three images of their goal.
Sai Kyaw Thu is believed to be essentially the most senior official of the Election Fee to be shot for the reason that military seized energy on February 1, 2021, from the elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Resistance teams earlier this yr tried to disrupt preparations for a brand new election the navy had promised by attacking personnel conducting a inhabitants survey that may very well be used to assemble voter rolls and different low-level election staff.
Plans for the polls, whose date was by no means set, had been set again indefinitely in February when the navy authorities introduced it was extending a state of emergency resulting from safety issues.
READ MORE: Myanmar Supreme Court docket to listen to attraction of jailed ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi
‘Disrespected the votes of the individuals’
City guerrillas have carried out many focused killings, acts of arson and small bombings. Victims included officers and members of the navy and their cronies, in addition to individuals believed to be informers or navy collaborators.
In November 2021, a former navy officer who was the chief finance officer of Myanmar’s military-linked Mytel telecommunications firm was fatally shot on a Yangon avenue. Than Than Swe, then a deputy governor of Myanmar’s Central Financial institution, was shot at her house in Yangon in April 2022. She survived and was promoted to financial institution governor.
Most just lately, a veteran company lawyer accused of serving to navy leaders was shot lifeless in Yangon by self-proclaimed city guerrillas in March.
After its takeover, the military clamped down harshly on opponents within the cities, arresting 1000’s and utilizing lethal power even in opposition to nonviolent demonstrators. The repression, which now accounts for greater than 3,400 civilian deaths, triggered widespread armed resistance.
The navy dismissed the members of the earlier election fee — which had ratified the victory of Suu Kyi’s social gathering in a November 2020 basic election — and appointed new ones.
It additionally detained a number of members of the outdated fee and, in line with experiences in impartial Myanmar media, pressured them to say there had been election fraud.
The brand new military-appointed fee declared the 2020 election outcomes invalid and prosecuted Suu Kyi and 15 different senior political figures for alleged fraud.
Within the assertion, “For The Yangon” claimed Sai Kyaw Thu had been a plaintiff within the election fraud case in opposition to Suu Kyi. She and ousted President Win Myint and the previous minister of the president’s workplace, Min Thu, acquired three-year sentences in September final yr in that case.
A member of the guerrilla group stated in a textual content message on Sunday that Sai Kyaw Thu was assassinated “for being the deputy director-general of the unlawful election fee of the navy council, which disrespected the votes of the individuals within the 2020 basic election and abused the individuals unjustly and in addition for being the one who falsely prosecuted President Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi as an adjunct of the navy council.”
READ MORE: ASEAN ‘strongly condemns’ Myanmar military’s lethal strikes in opposition to civilians
Supply: AP