Myanmar’s military junta has shot and killed a Baptist pastor in the Christian-majority Chin state, the third killing of a pastor there in about three and a half months, according to a religious freedom group that is pressing the U.S. government to act. Soldiers opened fire on the Rev.
Dal Thawn Tuang, 49, who served as assistant pastor at Lamzang Baptist Church, hitting him three times close to the Kapte bridge as he made his way home from religious duties in a neighboring village on Monday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The bullets hit his chest, abdomen and thigh. Tuang, who spent 22 years at the church, leaves behind his wife and two children.
His funeral took place Wednesday in Lamzang Village, roughly 5.5 miles from Tiddim town. The Tiddim Baptist Convention sent a condolence letter honoring him as “a faithful servant of God.” A physical examination found bullet wounds in three places on Tuang’s body, pointing to a deliberate killing rather than an accident, according to the Burma Research Institute (BRI).
A separate, conflicting account from The Irrawaddy’s Burmese-language edition said that escaped prisoners of war from the Tiddim area were behind the fatal shooting. Last Sunday night, roughly 80 military prisoners broke out of custody kept by People’s Defense Force-Zoland, a resistance group, setting off clashes between the two sides, it said.
ICC President Shawn Wright said the killing followed “the recent murder of Pastor William and our brother Nam Ceu,” calling it “a concerning trend,” and asking Christians in the West to pray for the grieving families and for the Burmese church. “Our staff is praying for Pastor Tuang’s family and his church,” Wright said. “We ask Christians in the West to lift up these grieving families in prayer and pray for the