Pro junta militia in Myanmar’s Yangon region shot dead the mother and sister of a man accused of killing a famous pro-junta singer, locals told RFA Wednesday.
Thea Malar Win, 42, and Saung Thazin Oo, 24, were killed in their home in Htantabin township’s Yoe Gyi village on Tuesday, according to neighbors who didn’t want to be named, fearing reprisals.
They are the mother and sister of 23-year-old anti-junta Special Task Force member Kaung Zarni Hein, who was arrested along with 30-year-old Kyaw Thura on June 6, and accused of killing Lily Naing Kyaw.
On Tuesday evening, following the arrests, members of pro-military Ma Ba Tha and Pyu Saw Htee militias went to the women’s home, where they tortured and killed them, residents said.
“They were shot dead after being beaten and interrogated,” said a local who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons.
“People say the bad guys, Naing Gyi and Ma Ba Tha, extremists from the village shot them … People don’t dare to talk much about this incident as they are afraid. The people who were killed were preschool teachers."
Lily Naing Kyaw, a pro-junta supporter of the Ma Ba Tha militia, was critically injured when she was shot in front of her home In Yangon’s Yankin township on the evening of May 30. She died on June 6, while undergoing treatment at Yangon’s Mingaladon Military Hospital.
As well as singing, she acted in military propaganda films and videos and often attended and performed at pro-junta events.
She was on record as saying there were no Rohingya in Myanmar, referring to the Muslim minority who have been targeted by Myanmar’s military, forcing around 740,000 to flee to Bangladesh, while the remainder live in Internally Displaced Peope’s camps, mainly in Rakhine state.
Lily Naing Kyaw was close to top junta officials, including Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun, and often posted pictures of herself with the military leaders on her Facebook page.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.