A 44-year-old man was shot dead by a masked gunman in Hsipaw Township, last week, with no suspects in custody.

The shooting of U Sein Win of San Pheik village occurred at around 10 p.m. on July 26. He was reportedly hit by three bullets by a gunman who fled the scene on a motorcycle, according to local sources.

“The situation in Hsipaw Township is insecure,” said local man Sai Seng, who said that there have been a string of killings in which the shooters arrive by motorbike and murder people in or near their homes, as U Sein Win was. “The police have not been able to arrest the perpetrators. Nobody knows who they are.”

According to Hsipaw’s Volunteer Funeral Service Association’s Facebook page, 10 people have been shot dead so far in 2018 in the township, which is regularly patrolled by Burmese military columns.

"We can't depend on any armed organizations for our security", said Sai Seng.

U Sein Win was an ethnic Ta’ang man who worked as a corn buyer. He ran a grocery store from his home.