Two Myanmar reporters among four killed in raid by junta forces

Myanmar junta forces hunting insurgents raided a reporter’s home killing him, another reporter and two other people, one of whom was a member of a rebel group, associates of the victims, including a former employer, told Radio Free Asia. 

The troops raided reporter Htet Myat Thu’s home in Mon state on Wednesday after receiving a tip-off that insurgents were meeting there.

Since the military seized power and toppled a civilian government more than three years ago, junta officials have closed independent media outlets and arrested and tortured some reporters, victims and rights groups say.

Junta soldiers opened fire on the home of Htet Myat Thu in Kyaikto township on suspicion the people there were members of a pro-democracy insurgent group called the Kyaikto Revolutionary Force, the associates of the men said. 

The second reporter killed in the raid was Win Htut Oo, 28, a freelance journalist who worked for the Democratic Voice of Burma and The Nation Voice, one of his employers told RFA. 

About 30 soldiers raided the home, said a source close to one of the victims who declined to be identified for security reasons. 

“Htet Myat Thu was shot first when he opened the door. Another man, Kyin Wak, was shot in the leg when he jumped out of a window,” said the source. 

“Win Htut Oo and another man, Ah Win, were shot at the back of home while they were trying to flee.”

Ah Win was a member of the Kyaikto Revolutionary Force but the other man, Kyin Wak, just lived in the house and had no militia affiliations, associates said.

Authorities did not return the bodies to their relatives but cremated them, they added. 

Twenty-six-year-old Htet Myat Thu worked for the Voice of Thanbyuzayat news outlet. He was arrested once before while reporting on protests that followed the 2021 coup but continued his work as a journalist after being released.

Nay Aung, chief editor of The Nation Voice, dismissed any suggestion that either of the reporters was a member of an insurgent group. 

“The journalists are just trying to report the right information in a timely way while they’re out in the field,” he said. “But the junta viewed this as an attack on the military and retaliated against them, step by step.”

Pro-junta channels on messaging app Telegram reported that four Kyaikto Revolutionary Force soldiers were killed in a shootout during a raid on a home where rebel soldiers were gathering. 

RFA tried to contact Mon state’s junta spokesperson Saw Kyi Naing for comment but he did not respond. 

According to data from the Independent Myanmar Journalists Association, 176 journalists have been arrested since the 2021 coup. Of these, five have been killed and 52 remain in custody.

Myanmar ranks ninth for number of journalists killed and second for the number of jailed journalists worldwide, according to the 2023 Global Impunity Index released by the Committee to Protect Journalists press freedom group.

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Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.