A train engineer who was accused of informing the military council of other railway staff members taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was shot and killed in Mandalay’s Amarapura Township on Tuesday.
San Tun Myaing, an assistant engineer at a train carriage workshop in Myitnge, was fatally shot by two assailants in Hninsi ward while leaving the Myitnge central market.
“He was collaborating with the military council by terrorising the staff members taking part in the CDM,” a staff member from the Mandalay railway department also taking part in the CDM alleged. “He was responsible for the arrests of several staff members as well as for thousands of staff members losing their jobs. He even helped the military council in arresting his colleagues.”
The staff member said San Tun Myaing “got what he deserved.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the murder of San Tun Myaing, but a photo of his body covered in blood has been shared widely online.
Two of the deceased’s three brothers are also engineers and are accused by locals of also acting as military informants. Another is a train driver and is on strike in accordance with the CDM, according to the same local sources.
San Tun Myaing reportedly is survived by a son who graduated from the Defence Services Academy.
Some 1,200 out of 2,000 railway staff based in Myitnge are taking part in the CDM. The town is a transportation hub and home to one of Myanmar’s primary railway workshops with thousands of staff servicing both passenger and freight trains. It is located at the point at which the river by the same name meets the railroad, and also lies along the Mandalay-Yangon highway.
Railway operations have largely come to a halt due to the ongoing general strike aimed at toppling the coup regime.
