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Rebels in Myanmar’s Bago region assassinated two local administrators who forcibly recruited civilians for military service, residents and other sources said Wednesday, bringing the number of officials killed for their involvement in carrying out the draft to at least 110.
The killings are the latest show of resistance to the junta’s conscription law, which the military regime began implementing last April as a way of shoring up its dwindling ranks amid mounting losses to rebel groups.
On Tuesday, Company No. 5 under Battalion 3801 of the local anti-junta defense force known as the Hero Guerrillas killed Kan Myint, the administrator of Gyobingauk township’s Gway Kaung Pin village, in his home, the rebel group told RFA Burmese.
A day earlier, the joint forces of Hero Guerrillas Companies No. 2 and 3 under Battalion 3802 in Thayarwady district killed Than Oo, the administrator of Hmaw Inn village, as he rode a motorcycle towards Let Pa Tan township, the group said.
After Than Oo was shot dead, his supporters and members of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia “narrowly escaped,” it added. Rebels seized two hand grenades, 100,000 kyats (US$48), and documents containing a list of conscripts for military service.
A member of the Thayarwady district defense forces, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told RFA that the administrators were “threatening residents” to make them serve in the military.
“The local administrators are forcibly recruiting young people for military service, and they are also extorting ‘military service fees,’” paid to spare people from joining the army, he said. “They also ask the junta forces to arrest young people who cannot pay the fees. They are threatening people with weapons provided by the junta.”
Under the mandatory military service law, men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve a minimum of two years in the military. Young people have been looking for ways to leave the country ever since the law was enacted.
Many new recruits have been sent for training after being detained at gunpoint by junta troops. They face torture or execution if they are caught trying to escape.
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On Wednesday, the Thayarwady district defense forces issued a statement advising residents to “remain vigilant,” as they are targeting junta-appointed administrators and Pyu Saw Htee members in the area.
Attempts by RFA to contact the junta’s spokesperson for Bago region and regional economic minister Tin Oo for more information about the killings went unanswered by the time of publishing.
Prior to Monday, the latest killing of an administrator for their involvement in military recruitment was that of Than Htwe, of Khwet Ma village in Magway region’s Minhla township, who was shot dead on Feb. 15.
Between February and September 2024, anti-junta forces killed 108 ward and village administrators involved in recruiting, compiling name lists and extorting money for military service, according to data compiled by RFA.
Family arrested over shooting
The latest killings came as junta authorities in Ayeyarwady region arrested the family of a young man who allegedly shot a military soldier during what residents described as a “dispute and brawl” over the extortion of military service fees.
The incident occurred on Monday in Pyapon township’s A Mar sub-township after a 30-year-old man went to an area junta outpost to complain that he was unable to afford the “fee” of 35,000 kyats (US$17) per household to avoid military service.
A resident of A Mar, who also declined to be named for fear of reprisal, told RFA that the young man “grabbed a gun” and “opened fire at a junta soldier on duty” after an argument ensued over the payment, which he noted is “a significant amount for many.”
“People have lost patience with this fee, especially amid economic hardship,” the resident said. “The young man first complained to the local administrator, but the administrator told him to take his grievance directly to the junta forces. He then went to the outpost, where an argument broke out between him and a junta soldier, which led to a brawl.”
During the fight, the young man “seized a gun from the outpost and fired twice, injuring the soldier in the thigh,” he said.
After the attack, the resident said, the young man escaped with guns and ammunition, prompting junta forces to arrest his wife and 10-year-old child, who they took to an area military camp.
Residents told RFA that the injured junta soldier is receiving treatment for his wound at the hospital in Pyapon.
RFA attempted to contact the junta’s Ayeyarwady region spokesperson and Minister of Social Affairs Khin Maung Kyi for comment on the incident, but he could not be reached.
The inhabitants of seven villages in A Mar sub-township were charged 40,000 kyats (US$19) per household to “fund military conscription” in September 2024, residents told RFA.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.