Top election official shot dead in Myanmar, 'People's Defence Force' were responsible
The deputy head of Myanmar's election commission was shot dead by rebel fighters in Yangon on Saturday.
Abhilasha 
It is the latest assassination of a high-profile figure linked to the country's junta.
Myanmar's military has led a bloody crackdown on dissent after seizing power in a coup more than two years ago, triggering social unrest and an economic crisis.
Self-proclaimed civilian "People's Defence Force" have sprung up in opposition to the junta, their fighters targeting officers serving with the army.
The army's information team said in a statement that Sai Kyaw Thu, deputy director of the Central Election Commission, was shot dead in Thingangyun town in eastern Yangon. It said the anti-coup "People's Defence Force" were responsible, but gave no further details.
The military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021 over allegations of voter fraud in last year's elections.
It has tasked a public-run election commission to hold fresh elections, which the military's opponents say cannot be free or fair.
Last month the commission disbanded Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it failed to re-register under tough new military-draft electoral rules.
State media reported on Friday that Myanmar's main military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, had already been registered. The group was trounced by Ms Suu Kyi's NLD in the 1990, 2015 and 2020 elections.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power
The coup sparked renewed fighting with ethnic rebels and spawned dozens of other opposition groups now battling the military.
Across the country, there are almost daily killings of low-level junta officials or alleged informers, the details of which are hazy and reprisals from the military often quickly follow.
In April last year, the deputy Governor of Myanmar's central bank, who was appointed after the military seized power from days gone by, was shot dead by unknown assailants at his home in Yangon.
In November 2021 a top executive of Mytel – a telecommunications venture between the military and Vietnamese firm Viettel – was shot dead outside his Yangon home.
