Oct 9, 2008 (DVB), A soldier from the Burmese army's Light Infantry Battalion 707 was shot after killing his commanding officer in an internal clash on 4 October, according to residents of Oakpho where the incident occurred.

An Oakpho resident said that police came after private Kyaw Shwe Maung, an Arakan national, at 5pm on Saturday after he killed his commanding officer at the LIB-707 headquarters at the entrance to Aye Mya Tharyar in Oakpho township, Tharawaddy district.

"The Aye Mya Tharyar police station chief and his team lay in wait for private Kyaw Shwe Maung and opened fire on his motorcycle," the resident said.

"As they did so, the motorcycle overturned and ran into a nearby transformer," he said.

"The security forces were worried that their bullets would hit the transformer and so they waited for a second chance to shoot him."

Back-up troops arrived, but were also unable to hit their Kyaw Shwe Maung as he was hiding between three transformers, the resident said.

"As they could not shoot him from ground level, some snipers shot at him from high up," he said.

"At about 11 or 12 o'clock, 10 or 15 gunshots were heard. When security approached the transformers, private Kyaw Shwe Maung was found dead."

One transformer was reported to have been destroyed in the shooting.

Kyaw Shwe Maung was buried on the same night in Pyidawtha village.

The army declined to comment on the incident.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw