A soldier on soldier killing erupted last weekend at a Burmese battalion based in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP), along the Thai-Burma border. The sergeant accused of shooting a fellow soldier has been detained at the battalion headquarters.
On December 5th, a fight erupted at Light Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 283 between Soe Shwe, a 26-year-old soldier, and a sergeant, according to sources close to the deceased soldier. Soe Shwe fired on the sergeant first, but missed, after which the sergeant returned fire killing Soe Shwe.
However in a statement released to Burmese military administrative offices, IB No. 283 announced it that the deceased soldier had committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth, according to a source that received the statement.
The sergeant’s case will be brought to the Burmese army Southeast Command (SEC) headquarters, based in Moulmein, Mon State. There the sergeant will be tried in a military court.
Officially reported cases of suicide or cases of soldier on soldier killings are unusual. However, according to one source, the last time such a case was reported was in 2007, when 2 soldiers from the area killed each other during an argument. Prior to that, due an unidentified crime, a soldier was tried at the SEC military court between 1993 and 1994.
It is likely that the sergeant will be held at IB No. 283 until the battalion campaign is up and is replaced, which generally happens every 4 to 6 months.
The sergeant and soldier were both from IB No. 283, which arrived in TPP on the 16th of August and is located just half a mile north west of TPP town.
