Residents in Yangon’s Mayangone Township told DVB that Cho Tun Aung, a retired ambassador and former Brigadier General, was shot outside his home on Tuesday.
“We don’t know if he survived. The military transported him to the hospital in an ambulance and are now conducting a search of the area,” a Mayangone resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
A resistance group based in Yangon calling itself the Golden Valley Warriors claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it was in retaliation for Cho Tun Aung’s continued involvement in supporting the regime since the 2021 coup, despite his retirement from the military.
“We have monitored his activities closely,” the group shared on social media. “Even in retirement, he remains complicit in the regime’s daily inhumane operations by continuing to provide military training and strategic advice,” the statement added.
Cho Tun Aung previously served as Myanmar’s Ambassador to Cambodia during the administration of President Thein Sein from 2012 to 2014. In 2022, he was awarded the honorary “Wunna Kyaw Htin” title for his “exceptional contributions” to Myanmar by the regime in Naypyidaw.
The group claimed that Cho Tun Aung has been working as a lecturer at the regime’s National Defence College (NDC) in Naypyidaw and a state-level senior adviser for the Reserve Military Forces Law enforced in February 2024.
Regime media has not reported on the assassination attempt. In October 2023, Nyan Lwin Aung was killed in Yangon’s Latha Township for his alleged involvement in arms procurement for the regime.
