The vice chair of a local branch of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was shot and killed in southern Shan State’s Pindaya Township on Saturday, local sources reported.
Kyaw Nyein, 50, was at a private school that he owned in Pindaya when he was shot by a member of an armed resistance group active in the area.
“He dodged the first bullet and prepared to shoot back at me with his own gun, but I managed to get off another shot that hit him in the head. He died on the spot,” said the person who claimed responsibility for the killing.
It was unknown if there were any students present at the school at the time of the incident.
Kyaw Nyein was regarded as an influential figure in Pindaya. He ran as a USDP candidate in the 2020 election, but lost to his National League for Democracy rival in a landslide.
When the military staged a coup to overturn the results of the election in February 2021, Kyaw Nyein became a member of the newly installed junta’s regional administration team.
In this capacity, he often acted as a regime informant and a recruiter for the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia, according to Pindaya residents.
“A lot of people were arrested because of him. Some are still in prison,” said one local man who did not want to be identified.
Late last year, some residents of Pindaya and Ywangan, which are both part of the Danu Self-Administered Zone, began to form into armed groups to oppose the junta and its allies.
Since then, the military and the Pyu Saw Htee have carried out relentless attacks on those suspected of belonging to these groups, making numerous arrests and torching villages deemed hostile to the regime.
In response, the groups have attempted to target high-profile figures known to be key to the regime’s influence in the region.
On June 12, they attempted to assassinate Win Myint, a Pyu Saw Htee leader in southern Ywangan Township, but only succeeded in killing two of his subordinates who were travelling in the same car as him when they opened fire on it.
“The car was perforated like a sponge. We thought we got everyone, but it turned out that Win Myint survived while his underlings were killed,” said a member of a group that took part in the attack.
An attempt on the life of another Pyu Saw Htee leader named Nga Aung also failed after the intended target was merely wounded, he added.
Because of these attacks, Kyaw Nyein was under guard at his home at all times and always carried a pistol, according to Pindaya residents.
The exact number of regime sympathisers killed by armed resistance groups since last year’s coup is unknown, but the USDP claims that around 1,000 of its members have died at the hands of guerrilla forces around the country.
