Senior military-linked election official shot dead by rebels in Myanmar

Naypyidaw [Myanmar], April 23 : Deputy chairman of Myanmar's military-appointed election commission was shot and killed by the insurgents on Saturday in the nation's commercial hub Yangon. This is the most recent high-profile murder connected to the country's military rulers, reported Al Jazeera.

The Union Election Commission's deputy director, Sai Kyaw Thu, was assassinated on Saturday in the eastern Yangon township of Thingangyun, according to a statement from the army's media team.

He was shot many times in the head, neck, and chest, according to local media.

People's Defence Forces (PDF), the country's loosely orgsed, armed wing of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), have emerged in opposition to the military, which overthrew the government more than two years ago, causing social unrest and an economic crisis, Al Jazeera reported.

Politicians who had been democratically elected but were ousted in the military coup founded the NUG.

Myanmar's military, which has battled armed ethnic groups for territorial control since soon after independence in 1948, has a long history of brutal attacks on civilians, and now an official has been targeted.

Since the coup, pro-democracy forces have united with some armed ethnic groups in a national campaign to oust the military from power, creating the most unified resistance movement the military has faced.