Supporters of the anti-coup movement in Sagaing region’s Tamu township killed five police officers during a grenade attack on a police outpost on Thursday.
Another police officer, who took part in the attack after defecting to the the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was killed when soldiers at the Nan Phar Lone outpost retaliated with machine gun fire.
Thang Hou Gin, 25, joined the fight against military rule in February. He was among a group of local people who used three hand grenades during the attack, sources told Myanmar Now.
“As they were retreating after throwing the hand grenades, the military opened fire with machine guns. The CDM officer was killed about 200 meters from the outpost,” a social worker in Tamu said.
According to a local member of the National League for Democracy, Thang Hou Gin died instantly after being shot.
Thang Hou Gin was an ethnic Kuki from the remote region near the Indian border. His body was retrieved from in front of the police station early Friday morning and buried in accordance with Kuki customs at around 11am the same day.
Soldiers have been stationed at the Nan Phar Lone police outpost since rumours began circulating that ethnic people related to the Kuki in neighbouring India were planning to support anti-coup protesters in Tamu.
On Monday, a 50-year-old man named Par Suu Ran, who was employed as a construction worker with India’s Border Roads Task Force, was arrested and beaten with his hands tied behind his back by Myanmar soldiers and police from the outpost.
Most local people in Tamu have strongly supported the anti-coup movement, and a majority of government workers in the region have joined the CDM.
In early March, more than 30 police officers from Myanmar fled to India after refusing to follow orders to fire on civilian protesters.
(This story was updated on April 3 to clarify details about who died in the attack.)
