Civilian shot dead by junta troops in Wetlet Township

Regime forces shot and killed a farmer while he was irrigating his field in Sagaing Region’s Wetlet Township on Wednesday, according to sources.

The troops, part of a reinforcement column advancing through the area, opened fire when they encountered the 58-year-old man and two others from the village of Hla Htway at around 2am, a member of a local resistance force told Myanmar Now.

“The column advanced at night to avoid detection and came across the farmers directly in their path. When they spotted the men, they just shot right at them,” the resistance fighter said.

The other two men, aged 34 and 42, managed to escape, but the body of the older man was later found in a rice field between Hla Htway and the neighbouring village Yae Twin Kone, he added.

Junta troops from the towns of Sadaung and Shwebo began advancing toward Wetlet Township on Monday, with the column from Sadaung entering southern Wetlet the next day and the Shwebo column moving in from the north on Wednesday.

In addition to the shooting, there have also been reports of regime soldiers raiding villages in the area and forcing residents to act as guides.