THE military has arrested a six-year-old child as part of a group blamed for the daytime killing of a retired military officer and diplomat last month, a junta-run newspaper reported.
Cho Htun Aung, 68, a retired brigadier general who also served as an ambassador, was shot dead in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon on May 22, in one of the highest profile assassinations in a country in the throes of a widening civil war.
“A total of 16 offenders – 13 males and three females – were arrested,” the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported yesterday.
In an accompanying graphic, the newspaper carried the image of the six-year-old, identified as the daughter of the alleged assassin.
Her face was blurred in an online version of the newspaper seen by Reuters, but visible in other social media posts made by junta authorities.
A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Golden Valley Warriors, an anti-junta insurgent group, said they killed the retired general because of his continued support for military operations, including attacks on civilians, according to a May 22 statement.
The junta claims the group is backed by the National Unity Government – a shadow government comprising of remnants of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted administration that is battling the military – and paid an assassin some 200,000 Myanmar kyat (RM400) for a killing, the state newspaper reported.
NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt denied the shadow government had made any such payments.
“It is not true that we are paying people to kill other people”.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, overthrowing the elected government and triggering widespread protests.
The junta’s violent crackdown on dissent sparked an unprecedented nationwide uprising.
A collection of established ethnic armies and new armed groups have wrested away swathes of territory from the well-armed military, and guerrilla-style fighting has erupted even in urban areas like Yangon. — Reuters
