USDP Campaigner Murdered in Shan State

Print
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is concerned about electioneering in northern Shan State following the murder of one of its local members two weeks ago.

Local sources in Shan State said a village headman in Nang Lan Township in northern Shan State was killed inside his home shortly after he had been campaigning publicly for the USDP.

The sources said he was gunned down by two men who have not been found. Police are questioning a villager who reportedly was stopped by the gunmen and asked for directions to the campaigner's house.

A police source in Nang Lan said the incident could be the responsibility of the Shan State Army-North or the Shan State Army-South.

However, neither group would comment on the issue when contacted by The Irrawaddy.

“If any USDP leader had to travel from Lashio to Naypyidaw, they would be afraid about the security risks around Tsipaw [a town in northern Shan State],” said a resident from Tsipaw.

Tsipaw and Nang Lan are mobilized areas of the SSA- North which rejected the junta’s Border Guard Force plan.