Myanmar teacher-turned-activist gunned down in Sagaing region

May Hnin Aye, a middle-school teacher turned activist was gunned down by three assailants in the Sagaing region believed to be working for the military regime.

On October 24, as she and her husband were sitting on their veranda, three men dressed in civilian clothes got out of a white car and started shooting. The men chased the couple as they ran into the house. Bullets struck May Hnin Aye's arm, thigh, and chest, killing her, said Kyaw Win Sein, her brother-in-law and a protest leader. No one else was hurt, reported Radio Free Asia (rfa).

May Hnin Aye was one of more than 200,000 educators across Myanmar who walked off their jobs to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the military wrested control of the country from its democratically elected government in a February 1 coup.

Doctors, nurses, engineers, and bankers have also joined the movement, featuring work stoppages aimed at forcing the junta to reverse course.

During the past few months, the military regime has been targeting CDM members in a violent crackdown on striking workers and protesters. The junta has pressured some teachers and others to return to work, though many continue to take part in anti-government protests, reported rfa.

Friends and relatives believe that May Hnin Aye was targeted not for her involvement with CDM, but rather as part of a politically motivated act of vengeance due to her association with Kyaw Win Sein, a well-known student activist wanted by the military junta as a suspect in the killings of pro-military militia members.

On the morning of the May Hnin Aye's death, Maung Mawt, a suspected military informant identified by locals as a leader of the Pyu Saw Htee group in Homalin township, was shot dead.

Pyu Saw Htee is a group reportedly formed with support from the military to counter the anti-regime resistance movement in Myanmar's Sagaing region and elsewhere, reported rfa.

"We believe it was a plot by a Pyu Saw Htee faction and the military because they acted so boldly and calmly," said Kyaw Win Sein, a former chairman of the Mandalay University Student Union, a group that has produced several protest participants.

Nine months after the military coup, junta forces have killed 1,242 civilians and arrested at least 7,038, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners -- mostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests, reported rfa.

( With inputs from ANI )