By Independent Mon News Agency – A member of the Karen Peace Force (KPF) in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP), at the Thai-Burmese border, committed suicide after shooting a female civilian on March 24th.
Eye witnesses from TPP reported that Kyaw Zay Ya, a man of 33 year-old, put a gun to his mouth and pulled the trigger after shooting a woman at a KPF military checkpoint. Kyaw Zay Ya had ordered the woman to stop her motorbike, but she refused and tried to drive away.
Slightly inebriated, when Kyaw Zay Ya saw the woman drive away, he shot her. Believing the woman to have died after she fell of the motorbike, he took the gun and shot himself.
In fact, the woman did not die after being shot in the leg, and sustaining a neck injury. According to a source close to her family, she is currently being treated at a hospital in Kanchaburi province, Thailand.
The woman was visiting her relatives in Burma when she was shot. According to Burmese pronunciation her name is Zar Wod Lee. She is Burmese-Thai and resides in Thailand.
The KPF is a Karen ceasefire group, which demands taxes from border traders along the Thai-Burmese border in TPP. The group agreed to become part of the Border Guard Force, under the control of the Burmese army. The KPF currently has 30 troops.
