Soldiers occupying a village in Sagaing Region’s Taze Township shot and killed a civilian on Friday afternoon, according to a local resident close to the victim’s family.
Moe Swe Oo, 30, and his younger sister were hiding in small huts about three miles outside the village of Kar Paung Kya when the incident occurred.
Both Moe Swe Oo and his sister were shot, the local said.
“They were eating in a hut when they saw some soldiers. They panicked and tried to run away. The soldiers opened fire and hit him in the chest and her in the arm,” he said.
Moe Swe Oo died from his injuries and was cremated on Saturday. His sister, who was badly wounded, is receiving medical attention, local residents said.
Six trucks carrying nearly a hundred soldiers stormed Kar Paung Kya at around 2am on Thursday. Troops shot and killed a man when he came out of his house to see what was happening.
Another villager was arrested and several houses were torched, according to residents who fled to a nearby forest following the raid.
The troops also fired both light weapons and heavy artillery into areas where residents were hiding, the displaced locals told Myanmar Now.
On Friday morning, about 50 troops went into the forests west of the village to look for the fleeing villagers, they said.
More houses were also destroyed by the occupying soldiers on the day after the raid, residents said.
More than a thousand of the 800-household village’s inhabitants were said to be in hiding. Many others have gone missing, local sources said.
“We have lost contact with some people and don’t know if they are dead or alive. Families have been separated, too,” one woman told Myanmar Now on Friday.
Residents of Kar Paung Kya say the village has been targeted repeatedly by regime troops operating in the area. They added that the latest assault has been the most sustained so far.
“They keep coming into our village and destroying it. They’re eating our food, killing our cows and chickens and pigs. They take whatever they want from our houses,” said one displaced local.
The military has not released a statement on the attacks and could not be reached for comment.
Just days after the February 1 coup, Taze became a stronghold for anti-dictatorship protests. On April 7, junta troops killed 10 locals in an attempt to suppress local resistance forces.
