A deputy battalion commander from Light Infantry Battalion No. 106, based in Ta Maw Kanin, Ye Township, Mon State, was shot and killed on May 11, according to a statement released by the Ye Blue group.
The victim was identified as Deputy Battalion Commander Tun Yar Kyaw. The attack reportedly took place at around 6:30 p.m. while he was traveling to Lamaing with three bodyguards to shop in the town.
According to the locally based Ye Blue group, its members carried out an ambush during the trip.
A Ye Blue leader said, “He arrived by car and, as a deputy battalion commander, he was accompanied by three bodyguards. While the three bodyguards got out to shop at the market and he remained inside the vehicle talking on the phone, we carried out the mission.”
The shooting reportedly occurred about 100 meters from the Lamaing police station, the Ye Blue group said.
Tun Yar Kyaw sustained five gunshot wounds and later died while receiving medical treatment at a hospital.
Local residents said some people from the Lamaing area had previously been beaten or abused by Deputy Battalion Commander Tun Yar Kyaw.
In April, the Ye Blue group also carried out separate shootings on Chaungtaung Bridge targeting a notorious member of the Pyu Saw Htee militia and a leader of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army who was allegedly cooperating with the military junta.
