UPDATED at 8:40 a.m. on 10-3-2022.
The murder of a village official in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region has prompted a flurry of arrests. More than 70 residents of Yegyi township have been taken into custody after Za Yet Hla village’s administrator Tar Tay was gunned down on a motorbike by an unknown attacker, locals said.
The arrested are from Myit Sal, Za Yet Hla and Kyon Tar villages and Nga Thai Chaung township, residents said.
The junta council-appointed village administrator was killed on his motorbike on Sept. 28 near Kyon Tar village as he returned from a meeting in Yegyi township, locals told RFA.
“Tar Tay was shot five times, hitting his head and chest and he died on the spot,” a Nga Thai Chaung resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
"He was riding the motorcycle behind [the driver] and was shot from the side [by another motorcyclist] … Residents of the village were arrested by military council forces, [helped by] informants, going from house to house," the local said.
"The arrested residents’ hands were tied behind their backs and they were chained.”
The military council has not released any statement concerning the killing of the Tar Tay or the follow-up arrests by junta forces.
RFA has not been able to confirm which group was behind the killing.
Myanmar has seen an explosion of violence since the military seized power from an elected civilian government in February 2021 and then suppressed peaceful protests with deadly force. Militia groups have taken up arms against the ruling junta and have sometimes targeted its administrators.
This story has been updated to clarify the spelling of Kyon Tar village and to add background.