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No representative from Myanmar is scheduled to address the annual high-level United Nations General Assembly next week, a UN spokesman said, amid rival claims for the country’s UN seat in New York after a military coup deposed the elected government.
“At this point, Myanmar is not speaking,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
Myanmar’s current UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun – appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government – had initially been expected to address the 193-member General Assembly on Monday, the final day of the gathering.
But diplomats said China, Russia and the United States had reached an understanding, where Moscow and Beijing will not object to Kyaw Moe Tun remaining in Myanmar’s UN seat for the moment as long as he does not speak during the high-level meeting.
“I withdrew from the speaker list, and will not speak at this general debate,” Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters the news agency, adding that he was aware of the understanding between some members of the UN credentials committee, which includes Russia, China and the US.
Myanmar’s military government has put forward military veteran Aung Thurein to be its UN envoy, while Kyaw Moe Tun has asked to renew his UN accreditation, despite being the target of a plot to kill or injure him for his opposition to the February coup.
UN accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the US, China and Russia. It traditionally meets in October or November.
Until a decision is made by the credentials committee, Kyaw Moe Tun will remain in the seats, according to the General Assembly rules. The same rule also applies to the representative of Afghanistan.
News of Kyaw Moe Tun’s absence on Monday comes as violence linked to the February 1 coup continues to displace thousands of civilians at home.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was overthrown by the military in February, sparking a nationwide uprising that the military has tried to crush.
Attacks on the military have increased after lawmakers deposed by the generals called for a “people’s defensive war” earlier this month.
The latest violence was reported in Chin state and Sagaing region in the country’s northwest, with soldiers engaging in battles with armed local defence groups.
More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and nearly 8,000 arrested since the coup, according to local observers.
Coup leaders have defended its power grab by alleging massive fraud during elections in late 2020 which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won by a landslide.
On Thursday, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned of a human rights catastrophe under military rule in Myanmar and urged the international community to do more to prevent the conflict in the country from getting worse.
“The national consequences are terrible and tragic – the regional consequences could also be profound,” she said in a statement.
“The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late.”
www.aljazeera.com
Sept 29 (Reuters) - Myanmar's currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September, driving up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a military coup eight months ago.
Many gold shops and money exchanges closed on Wednesday due to the turmoil, while the kyat’s dive trended on social media with comments ranging from stark warnings to efforts to find some humour as yet another crisis hits the strife-torn nation.
"This will rattle the generals as they are quite obsessed with the kyat rate as a broader barometer of the economy, and therefore a reflection on them," Richard Horsey, a Myanmar expert at the International Crisis Group, said.
In August, the Central Bank of Myanmar tried tethering the kyat 0.8% either side of its reference rate against the dollar, but gave up on Sept. 10 as pressure on the exchange rate mounted.
The shortage of dollars has become so bad that some money changers have pulled down their shutters.
"Due to the currency price instability at the moment...all Northern Breeze Exchange Service branches are temporarily closed," the money changer said on Facebook.
Those still operating were quoting a rate of 2,700 kyat per dollar on Tuesday, compared to 1,695 on Sept. 1 and 1,395 back on Feb. 1 when the military overthrew a democratically elected government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
WORLD BANK WARNS ECONOMY TO SLUMP 18%
The World Bank predicted on Monday the economy would slump 18% this year and said Myanmar would see the biggest contraction in employment in the region and the number of poor would rise. read more
The increasing economic pressures come amid signs of an upsurge in bloodshed, as armed militias have become bolder in clashes with the army after months of protests and strikes by opponents of the junta.
"The worse the political situation is, the worse the currency rate will be," said a senior executive at a Myanmar bank, who declined to be identified.
Myanmar is also struggling to deal with a second wave of coronavirus infections that started in June with the response by authorities crippled after many health workers joined protests. Reported cases have comes off their highs though the true extent of the outbreak remains unclear.
In the immediate months after the Feb. 1 coup, many people queued up to withdraw savings from banks and some bought gold, but a jewellery merchant in Yangon said many desperate people were now trying to sell their gold.
The central bank gave no reason to why it abandoned its managed float strategy earlier this month, but analysts believe its foreign currency reserves must be seriously depleted.
Central bank officials did not answer calls seeking comment, but World Bank data shows it had just $7.67 billion in reserves at the end of 2020.
After coming off its managed float, the central bank still spent $65 million, buying kyat at a rate of 1,750 to 1,755 per dollar between Sept. 13-27.
The bank executive said the central bank's efforts had limited impact in a currency market shorn of confidence.
The economic crisis has driven up the price of staples, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this week that around three million people now require humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, up from one million before the coup.
In a country where gross domestic product per capita was just $1,400 last year, a 48-kg bag of rice now costs 48,000 kyat, or around $18, up nearly 40% since the coup, while gasoline prices have nearly doubled to 1,445 kyat per litre.
"If you have money, you buy gold, you buy dollars, you buy (Thai) baht. If you do not have money, you will starve," said Facebook user Win Myint in a post.
www.reuters.com
Another 30 junta police officers and soldiers in Chin State have joined the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) defying military rule over the past two weeks, since the declaration of a People’s Defensive War against the military regime by the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) on Sept. 7.
That means a total of 350 junta police and 21 soldiers have gone on strike against military rule in Chin State since the Feb. 1 coup, according to the Chinland Defense Force (CDF), which consists of ethnic Chin civilian armed forces across the state.
Since late April, the military regime has faced intense resistance from the civilian fighters of the CDF teams, most of which are armed with homemade traditional hunting guns. The CDFs have managed to inflict heavy losses on junta forces in a series of firefights.
In a speech to the country on Sept. 7, the NUG’s acting president, Duwa Lashi La, urged anyone serving under the regime including soldiers and police to leave their jobs, while calling on all citizens to revolt against the rule of the “military terrorists” led by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in every corner of the country.
Since the declaration, 21 police and nine soldiers in Chin State have joined the CDM through the Chinland Defense Force, according to the group.
Of them, three soldiers brought firearms along with them in joining the CDM, a spokesperson for the CDF told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
The junta forces have joined the CDM as they realized the military has become the most unpopular institution in the country, and after witnessing the revolution of the people against the junta, according to the CDF.
“The terrorist group [junta] which has seized power from the elected government, realized itself that the international community does not recognize them [as the legitimate government]. So, junta soldiers need to realize that point too,” the spokesperson said.
He also said that junta forces need to decide quickly whether they intend to protect the interests of the junta or join the CDM, as they are among the main targets of the revolution now that the NUG has officially declared war.
The Chinland Defense Forces have been inviting junta soldiers to join the CDM by promising safe accommodation and a proper daily wage to those who do.
The Chin civilian armed forces have already announced that they will award 5 million kyats (US$2,713) to junta troop who bring firearms and rounds along with them when defecting from the military. Those who bring heavy weapons with shells will be awarded 10 million kyats ($5,427).
They also said government officials also would be awarded 5million kyats if they bring a vehicle from their offices while defecting to the CDM.
A video shows civilian resistance fighters of the CDF encouraging surrounding junta soldiers to join the CDM during a firefight in Chin State, promising them safety and rewards.
Meanwhile, some striking police officers are joining the Chinland Defense Forces in their fight against the military regime’s forces in Chin State.
As well, 320 police who defected from the junta-controlled Home Affairs Ministry after the coup have formed a police force that will work together with anti-regime groups to fight military rule in Kayah State.
In Myanmar, almost 410,000 government staff have gone on strike against the military regime since February.
Among them, around 2,000 junta police and soldiers have also joined the CDM, as of August, according to People’s Embrace, a group helping security forces personnel who are refusing to work for the regime.
Since the declaration of the People’s Defensive War on Sept.7, 15 to more than 30 junta police and soldiers have contacted the CDM to join it each day, the NUG said.
www.irrawaddy.com
“At this point, Myanmar is not speaking,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
Myanmar’s current UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun – appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government – had initially been expected to address the 193-member General Assembly on Monday, the final day of the gathering.
But diplomats said China, Russia and the United States had reached an understanding, where Moscow and Beijing will not object to Kyaw Moe Tun remaining in Myanmar’s UN seat for the moment as long as he does not speak during the high-level meeting.
“I withdrew from the speaker list, and will not speak at this general debate,” Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters the news agency, adding that he was aware of the understanding between some members of the UN credentials committee, which includes Russia, China and the US.
Myanmar’s military government has put forward military veteran Aung Thurein to be its UN envoy, while Kyaw Moe Tun has asked to renew his UN accreditation, despite being the target of a plot to kill or injure him for his opposition to the February coup.
UN accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the US, China and Russia. It traditionally meets in October or November.
Until a decision is made by the credentials committee, Kyaw Moe Tun will remain in the seats, according to the General Assembly rules. The same rule also applies to the representative of Afghanistan.
News of Kyaw Moe Tun’s absence on Monday comes as violence linked to the February 1 coup continues to displace thousands of civilians at home.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was overthrown by the military in February, sparking a nationwide uprising that the military has tried to crush.
Attacks on the military have increased after lawmakers deposed by the generals called for a “people’s defensive war” earlier this month.
The latest violence was reported in Chin state and Sagaing region in the country’s northwest, with soldiers engaging in battles with armed local defence groups.
More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and nearly 8,000 arrested since the coup, according to local observers.
Coup leaders have defended its power grab by alleging massive fraud during elections in late 2020 which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won by a landslide.
On Thursday, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned of a human rights catastrophe under military rule in Myanmar and urged the international community to do more to prevent the conflict in the country from getting worse.
“The national consequences are terrible and tragic – the regional consequences could also be profound,” she said in a statement.
“The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late.”
Myanmar will not address world leaders at UN General Assembly
Russia, China agree to allow Kyaw Moe Tun to keep Myanmar’s UN seat as long as he does not speak during meeting.
Sept 29 (Reuters) - Myanmar's currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September, driving up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a military coup eight months ago.
Many gold shops and money exchanges closed on Wednesday due to the turmoil, while the kyat’s dive trended on social media with comments ranging from stark warnings to efforts to find some humour as yet another crisis hits the strife-torn nation.
"This will rattle the generals as they are quite obsessed with the kyat rate as a broader barometer of the economy, and therefore a reflection on them," Richard Horsey, a Myanmar expert at the International Crisis Group, said.
In August, the Central Bank of Myanmar tried tethering the kyat 0.8% either side of its reference rate against the dollar, but gave up on Sept. 10 as pressure on the exchange rate mounted.
The shortage of dollars has become so bad that some money changers have pulled down their shutters.
"Due to the currency price instability at the moment...all Northern Breeze Exchange Service branches are temporarily closed," the money changer said on Facebook.
Those still operating were quoting a rate of 2,700 kyat per dollar on Tuesday, compared to 1,695 on Sept. 1 and 1,395 back on Feb. 1 when the military overthrew a democratically elected government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
WORLD BANK WARNS ECONOMY TO SLUMP 18%
The World Bank predicted on Monday the economy would slump 18% this year and said Myanmar would see the biggest contraction in employment in the region and the number of poor would rise. read more
The increasing economic pressures come amid signs of an upsurge in bloodshed, as armed militias have become bolder in clashes with the army after months of protests and strikes by opponents of the junta.
"The worse the political situation is, the worse the currency rate will be," said a senior executive at a Myanmar bank, who declined to be identified.
Myanmar is also struggling to deal with a second wave of coronavirus infections that started in June with the response by authorities crippled after many health workers joined protests. Reported cases have comes off their highs though the true extent of the outbreak remains unclear.
In the immediate months after the Feb. 1 coup, many people queued up to withdraw savings from banks and some bought gold, but a jewellery merchant in Yangon said many desperate people were now trying to sell their gold.
The central bank gave no reason to why it abandoned its managed float strategy earlier this month, but analysts believe its foreign currency reserves must be seriously depleted.
Central bank officials did not answer calls seeking comment, but World Bank data shows it had just $7.67 billion in reserves at the end of 2020.
After coming off its managed float, the central bank still spent $65 million, buying kyat at a rate of 1,750 to 1,755 per dollar between Sept. 13-27.
The bank executive said the central bank's efforts had limited impact in a currency market shorn of confidence.
The economic crisis has driven up the price of staples, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this week that around three million people now require humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, up from one million before the coup.
In a country where gross domestic product per capita was just $1,400 last year, a 48-kg bag of rice now costs 48,000 kyat, or around $18, up nearly 40% since the coup, while gasoline prices have nearly doubled to 1,445 kyat per litre.
"If you have money, you buy gold, you buy dollars, you buy (Thai) baht. If you do not have money, you will starve," said Facebook user Win Myint in a post.
Myanmar currency drops 60% in weeks as economy tanks since February coup
Myanmar's currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September, driving up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a military coup eight months ago.
Another 30 junta police officers and soldiers in Chin State have joined the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) defying military rule over the past two weeks, since the declaration of a People’s Defensive War against the military regime by the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) on Sept. 7.
That means a total of 350 junta police and 21 soldiers have gone on strike against military rule in Chin State since the Feb. 1 coup, according to the Chinland Defense Force (CDF), which consists of ethnic Chin civilian armed forces across the state.
Since late April, the military regime has faced intense resistance from the civilian fighters of the CDF teams, most of which are armed with homemade traditional hunting guns. The CDFs have managed to inflict heavy losses on junta forces in a series of firefights.
In a speech to the country on Sept. 7, the NUG’s acting president, Duwa Lashi La, urged anyone serving under the regime including soldiers and police to leave their jobs, while calling on all citizens to revolt against the rule of the “military terrorists” led by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in every corner of the country.
Since the declaration, 21 police and nine soldiers in Chin State have joined the CDM through the Chinland Defense Force, according to the group.
Of them, three soldiers brought firearms along with them in joining the CDM, a spokesperson for the CDF told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
The junta forces have joined the CDM as they realized the military has become the most unpopular institution in the country, and after witnessing the revolution of the people against the junta, according to the CDF.
“The terrorist group [junta] which has seized power from the elected government, realized itself that the international community does not recognize them [as the legitimate government]. So, junta soldiers need to realize that point too,” the spokesperson said.
He also said that junta forces need to decide quickly whether they intend to protect the interests of the junta or join the CDM, as they are among the main targets of the revolution now that the NUG has officially declared war.
The Chinland Defense Forces have been inviting junta soldiers to join the CDM by promising safe accommodation and a proper daily wage to those who do.
The Chin civilian armed forces have already announced that they will award 5 million kyats (US$2,713) to junta troop who bring firearms and rounds along with them when defecting from the military. Those who bring heavy weapons with shells will be awarded 10 million kyats ($5,427).
They also said government officials also would be awarded 5million kyats if they bring a vehicle from their offices while defecting to the CDM.
A video shows civilian resistance fighters of the CDF encouraging surrounding junta soldiers to join the CDM during a firefight in Chin State, promising them safety and rewards.
Meanwhile, some striking police officers are joining the Chinland Defense Forces in their fight against the military regime’s forces in Chin State.
As well, 320 police who defected from the junta-controlled Home Affairs Ministry after the coup have formed a police force that will work together with anti-regime groups to fight military rule in Kayah State.
In Myanmar, almost 410,000 government staff have gone on strike against the military regime since February.
Among them, around 2,000 junta police and soldiers have also joined the CDM, as of August, according to People’s Embrace, a group helping security forces personnel who are refusing to work for the regime.
Since the declaration of the People’s Defensive War on Sept.7, 15 to more than 30 junta police and soldiers have contacted the CDM to join it each day, the NUG said.
Thirty Myanmar Police, Troops Defect in Chin State Since War Declaration Against Junta
Twenty-one police and nine soldiers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement since Sept. 7; three brought their weapons with them, the Chinland Defense Force said.
www.irrawaddy.com
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Over 30 junta soldiers and at least 14 civilian resistance fighters were reportedly killed over the weekend during a series of intense firefights in several townships in Sagaing Region and Chin and Kayah States.
Fierce fighting broke out on Sunday near Kone Thar Village in Kayah State’s Demoso Township, when a combined force from the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party, ambushed junta troops.
The regime soldiers were forced to retreat from the village, despite being reinforced and using heavy weapons, according to a statement from the KNDF. The KNDF said that there were many military casualties, while some civilian resistance fighters suffered minor injuries.
A 70-year-old villager wearing a t-shirt bearing the United Nations emblem was also shot dead in Kone Thar Village on Sunday by junta troops.
On Saturday, an intense firefight between junta troops and Karenni resistance forces also broke out at Kone Thar Village. At least 10 junta soldiers and a member of the KNDF were killed during the 11-hour shootout.
Junta troops have been clashing with resistance groups near Kone Thar Village since Thursday, after they arrived in the area to raid villages.
During the weekend clashes, junta troops raided many homes and burned down 30 houses in Kone Thar, the KNDF said.
Another 11 junta soldiers were killed over the weekend after being ambushed by People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in Kale Township, Sagaing Region.
On Sunday afternoon, a combined force of the Kale-PDF and the Chin National Defense Force ambushed around 100 regime troops raiding villages in the south of Kale Township.
In the shootout, junta forces retreated after facing strong resistance from the civilian resistance fighters. Three junta soldiers were killed and five members of the PDF were wounded.
On Saturday noon, Kale-PDF also ambushed a junta convoy with mines while it was travelling to Kale. At least eight Myanmar military soldiers were killed in the attack and the fleeing junta forces left their damaged vehicles behind, Kale-PDF said.
13 PDF members and at least five regime troops were also killed during another firefight in Sagaing Region’s Mingin Township on Saturday, a member of the Mingin-PDF told The Irrawaddy. A combined force of junta soldiers and a local Pyu Saw Htee group – a militia armed and trained by the regime – clashed near Gonnyin Village in Mingin Township.
Over 40 soldiers were killed in two firefights on September 11 and 24 with a combined force of civilian resistance fighters from Pinlebu, Kawlin and Wuntho townships in Sagaing Region.
Junta forces reacted on Sunday by blocking all internet access and mobile phone connections in Pinlebu Township, before hundreds of troops and two helicopters attacked the local PDF, a spokesperson for the Pinlebu-PDF told The Irrawaddy. Despite the junta’s airstrikes, there were no civilian resistance fighter casualties on Sunday. But the local PDF urged civilians in the township to construct air raid shelters.
The regime has intensified its raids and arrests, as well as burning down villages and bombarding towns, since the parallel National Unity Government declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. Regime forces have been especially active in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
At the same time, PDF’s have stepped up their operations targeting junta forces across the country.
As of Saturday, 1,125 people have been killed by regime forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary killings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,456 people including elected government leaders have been detained or are the subject of arrest warrants.
www.irrawaddy.com
Tamu, a town bordering India in Sagaing Region in Myanmar’s west, used to engage in lively trade with India, but is now in a state of rebellion against the military regime.
After the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup, Tamu was one of the first towns to take up arms against the junta, following a bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters. Tamu is now the site of competing armed forces, with local civilian resistance fighters facing not only junta soldiers, but groups of Pyu Saw Htee – a militia armed and trained by the regime – and Meitei rebels who are cooperating with the Myanmar military.
Meitei people are an ethnic group native to Manipur State in northeastern India, and are also known as Manipuri people. Myanmar is home to a sizeable community of Meitei, who are called ‘Kathe’ in Burmese.
Some Meitei rebel groups have been fighting the Indian government from bases along the Myanmar-India border including in Tamu Township, which shares a 78-mile-long border with Manipur State.
The Tamu Security Group (TSG) recently released a statement warning Meitei rebels who support or work with the regime not to fight the local People’s Defense Forces. Later, the TSG released another statement clarifying that it was not referring to the entire Meitei ethnic group.
“They [Meitei rebels] have given trouble to various people and are working together with the regime to fight the PDF. So we request and warn the rebel Manipuris in Tamu not to support and cooperate with the regime,” said a TSG member.
There are at least six Meitei rebel groups, according to local civil society organizations, spread across Leshi, Homalin and Tamu townships in Sagaing and Tonzang Township in Chin State, as well as Mandalay Region.
Those groups include the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), the People’s Liberation Army of Manipur (PLA-MP), the United National Liberation Front of Manipur (UNLF), the United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK), the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Kanleipak Communist Party (KCP).
The groups also have ties with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) in the Naga Self-Administered Zone of Sagaing Region. The NSCN-K is an ethnic Naga armed group pushing to establish a sovereign Naga homeland. Some of the groups own businesses in major towns in Sagaing, including Monywa and Kale.
Observers say that since their coup, Myanmar’s military has forced Meitei rebels to share information and work together with it to crush anti-coup protests and armed resistance, as well as driving away Myanmar civilians attempting to flee to India.
Since March, Meitei rebels have been involved when junta troops cracked down on protesters in Tamu. Five Meitei rebels were killed fighting alongside regime soldiers in separate clashes on May 11 and July 24, said the TSG.
Indian newspapers have been reporting the Meitei rebels’ cooperation with the regime since April. They have quoted Indian intelligence officers as saying that the PLA-MP and the UNLF were involved in the lethal crackdown in Kale and Tamu in which 12 civilians were killed.
Myanmar’s military regime met with some Meitei rebel leaders in May, which led to the Meitei rebels agreeing to work for the military regime in exchange for cash and a base in Sagaing Region, according to Indian media outlets.
Locals told The Irrawaddy that it was no coincidence that the commander of the Myanmar military’s North Western Command was in Tamu at the time of the talks.
“Underground Manipuris have been involved in every clash we have fought. In some cases, they were hired by the regime on a daily basis [as mercenaries]. People from Manipur don’t blame us when [Meitei] rebels die in the fighting,” said a Tamu civilian resistance fighter.
The coordination committee of Indian separatist groups, including the PLA-MP and the UNLF, denied the reports that they have fought for the junta. The groups said it was Indian government propaganda designed to smear them.
Despite widespread reports of Meitei rebel groups cooperating with the regime, not every Meitei rebel is willing to fight for the regime, said ethnic Naga observer Ko Aung Tun.
Two young Meitei rebels who fled in August after refusing to fight the local PDF were captured by their group and tortured to death, he said.
“Many of the PLA-MP fighters do not want to fight for the regime. But Myanmar’s military always pressures them into fighting for them or returning to India,” added Ko Aung Tun.
Many young Meitei rebels operating on the Myanmar side of the border do not even have a cell phone to entertain themselves, but have only been used by their leaders to extort money from businessmen at the border. Human rights organizations based in Manipur have kept silent on the issue, said another local observer who wished to remain anonymous.
“I have interviewed some PLA-MP cadres and learned their many terrible stories and how they were coerced by their military leaders,” he said.
Separatist Meitei rebel groups have been operating along the Myanmar-India border since the time of the former State Peace and Development Council junta in the 1990s. The two sides have mutual business interests, said locals.
Despite Delhi’s complaints about continuing insurgent activity by the separatist groups based along the border, Myanmar military leaders have always denied sheltering foreign armed troops in the country. But the military attacked Meitei rebels in 2019 when the military itself, and the then National League for Democracy government, wanted to improve ties with the Indian government, following the fighting with the Arakan Army in Rakhine State in western Myanmar.
The Myanmar military’s North Western Command raided the headquarters of the NSCN-K in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in 2019, and arrested and imprisoned Meitei rebels based there. In May 2020, the Myanmar government handed 22 captured Meitei rebels over to the Indian government.
There have been fewer clashes in Tamu lately, although the TSG said that some 100 junta soldiers have been killed in clashes with resistance forces in the town. Local resistance fighters operate three units in Tamu. The military regime has deployed artillery and extra troops in the town, along with Pyu Saw Htee fighters and Meitei rebels.
“There is a Meitei group operating in the area. They cooperate with the regime and fight and extort money from the people. So we request and warn that group not to be disruptive while we are fighting for democracy,” said a TSG member.
www.irrawaddy.com
Recent days have seen a surge in killings of civilians—particularly members and vocal supporters of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as villagers living in anti-regime resistance strongholds—by junta forces.
The fatalities reported over the past three days include Mandalay-based political activist and philanthropist Ko Than Htun Oo, a.k.a Ko Min Ko Thein, a member of NLD’s Mandalay branch. He died in police custody within a few hours of being arrested on Saturday.
The 48-year-old, affectionately known as “Ko Fatty” among his friends, was arrested at his home in Aungmyaytharzan Township of Mandalay Region for alleged possession of weapons.
During the raid on his home, junta forces told him to get on his knees. When he said he couldn’t kneel due to his weight, he was reportedly shot in the knee. He was arrested despite no weapons being found during the search. On Sunday evening, his family was notified of his death. The body was not returned to the family and regime officials said they organized funeral rites themselves.
Ko Ye Yint, another NLD member in Mandalay, was also killed in detention on Friday. The 30-year-old was shot dead after being accusing of trying to flee the police station. Junta forces detained him after accusing him of setting off a bomb explosion in Sein Pan ward, near his residence. Locals rejected the junta’s accusation against their neighbor, however.
U Pauk Gyi, a vocal supporter of the NLD in Mandalay, was also found dead on Friday morning, on an embankment in Sein Pan, Maharaungmyay Township. His body bore a gunshot wound to the head and stab wounds to the neck, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) stated in their most recent report.
The AAPP said U Pauk Gyi was arrested and taken away by junta soldiers and members of a Pyu Saw Htee, a militia group trained and armed by the junta, at midnight last Thursday following a report by one of the junta’s informers.
Youth activists and villagers from strongholds of anti-regime resistance groups who have inflicted heavy casualties on junta forces were also among the recent fatalities.
Activist Ko Sithu Kaung Myat, 24, from Bago City in Bago Region, was shot in the head, stomach and hands when junta forces arrested him at home on Thursday. He died on Friday while receiving medical treatment at Bago General Hospital, the AAPP stated in its report.
Following his death, police sealed the house where he and his mother lived, so that no one could enter, the AAPP added.
In Yangon, four youths were reportedly shot dead in Sanchaung Township, Yangon Region, at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. Propaganda published by military supporters portrayed the incident as a shootout between civilian guerrilla fighters and junta forces on the Myaynigone flyover. The propaganda accounts also stated there were casualties among the junta forces.
However, according to accounts of locals and video footage recorded by a civilian, there was no shootout in the area and the youths were dragged down from their apartment, beaten and kicked several times and shot. The Irrawaddy couldn’t independently verify the number of fatalities.
In Kayah State’s Demoso Township, which has seen intense clashes between junta forces and local civilian resistance fighters who took up arms against the junta, a 70-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with the UN emblem on it was shot dead on Sunday.
A 70-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with the UN emblem on it was shot dead on Sunday. / CJ
On Monday, the hearse carrying his body hit a mine reportedly planted by regime troops.
A score of civilians were also killed over the weekend in Sagaing Region, which has seen numerous junta raids in response to determined civilian resistance.
Heavy troops raided Tharsi Village of Sagaing’s Kalay Township on Sunday and shot and killed striking police officer Ko Zaw Myo Htut and villager Ko Than Htike Aung.
The People’s Defense Force-Kalay announced that the group attacked the troops with an allied group on their way back from Tharsi. During the clash, three junta troops were killed.
Sagaing Region’s local community pages reported that around four villagers including a woman in her 60s were killed in Nabutaw Village, Yinmabin Township on Sunday.
On Monday, junta soldiers also surrounded Monyway and Kyaymon villages in Monywa and arrested several villagers. At least two were reportedly shot dead by the time of publication of this article. Locals said the death toll could grow as the junta soldiers violently beat the detainees.
Since the coup, the junta has killed at least 1,125 civilians including youth activists, protesters, children, politicians and NLD members and supporters, and arrested more than 8,400 people, according to data compiled by the AAPP.
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Fierce fighting broke out on Sunday near Kone Thar Village in Kayah State’s Demoso Township, when a combined force from the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party, ambushed junta troops.
The regime soldiers were forced to retreat from the village, despite being reinforced and using heavy weapons, according to a statement from the KNDF. The KNDF said that there were many military casualties, while some civilian resistance fighters suffered minor injuries.
A 70-year-old villager wearing a t-shirt bearing the United Nations emblem was also shot dead in Kone Thar Village on Sunday by junta troops.
On Saturday, an intense firefight between junta troops and Karenni resistance forces also broke out at Kone Thar Village. At least 10 junta soldiers and a member of the KNDF were killed during the 11-hour shootout.
Junta troops have been clashing with resistance groups near Kone Thar Village since Thursday, after they arrived in the area to raid villages.
During the weekend clashes, junta troops raided many homes and burned down 30 houses in Kone Thar, the KNDF said.
Another 11 junta soldiers were killed over the weekend after being ambushed by People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in Kale Township, Sagaing Region.
On Sunday afternoon, a combined force of the Kale-PDF and the Chin National Defense Force ambushed around 100 regime troops raiding villages in the south of Kale Township.
In the shootout, junta forces retreated after facing strong resistance from the civilian resistance fighters. Three junta soldiers were killed and five members of the PDF were wounded.
On Saturday noon, Kale-PDF also ambushed a junta convoy with mines while it was travelling to Kale. At least eight Myanmar military soldiers were killed in the attack and the fleeing junta forces left their damaged vehicles behind, Kale-PDF said.
13 PDF members and at least five regime troops were also killed during another firefight in Sagaing Region’s Mingin Township on Saturday, a member of the Mingin-PDF told The Irrawaddy. A combined force of junta soldiers and a local Pyu Saw Htee group – a militia armed and trained by the regime – clashed near Gonnyin Village in Mingin Township.
Over 40 soldiers were killed in two firefights on September 11 and 24 with a combined force of civilian resistance fighters from Pinlebu, Kawlin and Wuntho townships in Sagaing Region.
Junta forces reacted on Sunday by blocking all internet access and mobile phone connections in Pinlebu Township, before hundreds of troops and two helicopters attacked the local PDF, a spokesperson for the Pinlebu-PDF told The Irrawaddy. Despite the junta’s airstrikes, there were no civilian resistance fighter casualties on Sunday. But the local PDF urged civilians in the township to construct air raid shelters.
The regime has intensified its raids and arrests, as well as burning down villages and bombarding towns, since the parallel National Unity Government declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. Regime forces have been especially active in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
At the same time, PDF’s have stepped up their operations targeting junta forces across the country.
As of Saturday, 1,125 people have been killed by regime forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary killings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,456 people including elected government leaders have been detained or are the subject of arrest warrants.
Over 30 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Fierce Weekend Fighting
Civilian resistance fighters and regime forces clashed over the weekend in Chin and Kayah states and Sagaing Region.
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Tamu, a town bordering India in Sagaing Region in Myanmar’s west, used to engage in lively trade with India, but is now in a state of rebellion against the military regime.
After the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup, Tamu was one of the first towns to take up arms against the junta, following a bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters. Tamu is now the site of competing armed forces, with local civilian resistance fighters facing not only junta soldiers, but groups of Pyu Saw Htee – a militia armed and trained by the regime – and Meitei rebels who are cooperating with the Myanmar military.
Meitei people are an ethnic group native to Manipur State in northeastern India, and are also known as Manipuri people. Myanmar is home to a sizeable community of Meitei, who are called ‘Kathe’ in Burmese.
Some Meitei rebel groups have been fighting the Indian government from bases along the Myanmar-India border including in Tamu Township, which shares a 78-mile-long border with Manipur State.
The Tamu Security Group (TSG) recently released a statement warning Meitei rebels who support or work with the regime not to fight the local People’s Defense Forces. Later, the TSG released another statement clarifying that it was not referring to the entire Meitei ethnic group.
“They [Meitei rebels] have given trouble to various people and are working together with the regime to fight the PDF. So we request and warn the rebel Manipuris in Tamu not to support and cooperate with the regime,” said a TSG member.
There are at least six Meitei rebel groups, according to local civil society organizations, spread across Leshi, Homalin and Tamu townships in Sagaing and Tonzang Township in Chin State, as well as Mandalay Region.
Those groups include the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), the People’s Liberation Army of Manipur (PLA-MP), the United National Liberation Front of Manipur (UNLF), the United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK), the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Kanleipak Communist Party (KCP).
The groups also have ties with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) in the Naga Self-Administered Zone of Sagaing Region. The NSCN-K is an ethnic Naga armed group pushing to establish a sovereign Naga homeland. Some of the groups own businesses in major towns in Sagaing, including Monywa and Kale.
Observers say that since their coup, Myanmar’s military has forced Meitei rebels to share information and work together with it to crush anti-coup protests and armed resistance, as well as driving away Myanmar civilians attempting to flee to India.
Since March, Meitei rebels have been involved when junta troops cracked down on protesters in Tamu. Five Meitei rebels were killed fighting alongside regime soldiers in separate clashes on May 11 and July 24, said the TSG.
Indian newspapers have been reporting the Meitei rebels’ cooperation with the regime since April. They have quoted Indian intelligence officers as saying that the PLA-MP and the UNLF were involved in the lethal crackdown in Kale and Tamu in which 12 civilians were killed.
Myanmar’s military regime met with some Meitei rebel leaders in May, which led to the Meitei rebels agreeing to work for the military regime in exchange for cash and a base in Sagaing Region, according to Indian media outlets.
Locals told The Irrawaddy that it was no coincidence that the commander of the Myanmar military’s North Western Command was in Tamu at the time of the talks.
“Underground Manipuris have been involved in every clash we have fought. In some cases, they were hired by the regime on a daily basis [as mercenaries]. People from Manipur don’t blame us when [Meitei] rebels die in the fighting,” said a Tamu civilian resistance fighter.
The coordination committee of Indian separatist groups, including the PLA-MP and the UNLF, denied the reports that they have fought for the junta. The groups said it was Indian government propaganda designed to smear them.
Despite widespread reports of Meitei rebel groups cooperating with the regime, not every Meitei rebel is willing to fight for the regime, said ethnic Naga observer Ko Aung Tun.
Two young Meitei rebels who fled in August after refusing to fight the local PDF were captured by their group and tortured to death, he said.
“Many of the PLA-MP fighters do not want to fight for the regime. But Myanmar’s military always pressures them into fighting for them or returning to India,” added Ko Aung Tun.
Many young Meitei rebels operating on the Myanmar side of the border do not even have a cell phone to entertain themselves, but have only been used by their leaders to extort money from businessmen at the border. Human rights organizations based in Manipur have kept silent on the issue, said another local observer who wished to remain anonymous.
“I have interviewed some PLA-MP cadres and learned their many terrible stories and how they were coerced by their military leaders,” he said.
Separatist Meitei rebel groups have been operating along the Myanmar-India border since the time of the former State Peace and Development Council junta in the 1990s. The two sides have mutual business interests, said locals.
Despite Delhi’s complaints about continuing insurgent activity by the separatist groups based along the border, Myanmar military leaders have always denied sheltering foreign armed troops in the country. But the military attacked Meitei rebels in 2019 when the military itself, and the then National League for Democracy government, wanted to improve ties with the Indian government, following the fighting with the Arakan Army in Rakhine State in western Myanmar.
The Myanmar military’s North Western Command raided the headquarters of the NSCN-K in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in 2019, and arrested and imprisoned Meitei rebels based there. In May 2020, the Myanmar government handed 22 captured Meitei rebels over to the Indian government.
There have been fewer clashes in Tamu lately, although the TSG said that some 100 junta soldiers have been killed in clashes with resistance forces in the town. Local resistance fighters operate three units in Tamu. The military regime has deployed artillery and extra troops in the town, along with Pyu Saw Htee fighters and Meitei rebels.
“There is a Meitei group operating in the area. They cooperate with the regime and fight and extort money from the people. So we request and warn that group not to be disruptive while we are fighting for democracy,” said a TSG member.
Rebel Fighters From India Cooperating With Myanmar Military Regime
Meitei armed groups based along the Myanmar-India Border are fighting in Sagaing Region alongside junta troops against civilian resistance forces.
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Recent days have seen a surge in killings of civilians—particularly members and vocal supporters of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as villagers living in anti-regime resistance strongholds—by junta forces.
The fatalities reported over the past three days include Mandalay-based political activist and philanthropist Ko Than Htun Oo, a.k.a Ko Min Ko Thein, a member of NLD’s Mandalay branch. He died in police custody within a few hours of being arrested on Saturday.
The 48-year-old, affectionately known as “Ko Fatty” among his friends, was arrested at his home in Aungmyaytharzan Township of Mandalay Region for alleged possession of weapons.
During the raid on his home, junta forces told him to get on his knees. When he said he couldn’t kneel due to his weight, he was reportedly shot in the knee. He was arrested despite no weapons being found during the search. On Sunday evening, his family was notified of his death. The body was not returned to the family and regime officials said they organized funeral rites themselves.
Ko Ye Yint, another NLD member in Mandalay, was also killed in detention on Friday. The 30-year-old was shot dead after being accusing of trying to flee the police station. Junta forces detained him after accusing him of setting off a bomb explosion in Sein Pan ward, near his residence. Locals rejected the junta’s accusation against their neighbor, however.
U Pauk Gyi, a vocal supporter of the NLD in Mandalay, was also found dead on Friday morning, on an embankment in Sein Pan, Maharaungmyay Township. His body bore a gunshot wound to the head and stab wounds to the neck, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) stated in their most recent report.
The AAPP said U Pauk Gyi was arrested and taken away by junta soldiers and members of a Pyu Saw Htee, a militia group trained and armed by the junta, at midnight last Thursday following a report by one of the junta’s informers.
Youth activists and villagers from strongholds of anti-regime resistance groups who have inflicted heavy casualties on junta forces were also among the recent fatalities.
Activist Ko Sithu Kaung Myat, 24, from Bago City in Bago Region, was shot in the head, stomach and hands when junta forces arrested him at home on Thursday. He died on Friday while receiving medical treatment at Bago General Hospital, the AAPP stated in its report.
Following his death, police sealed the house where he and his mother lived, so that no one could enter, the AAPP added.
In Yangon, four youths were reportedly shot dead in Sanchaung Township, Yangon Region, at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. Propaganda published by military supporters portrayed the incident as a shootout between civilian guerrilla fighters and junta forces on the Myaynigone flyover. The propaganda accounts also stated there were casualties among the junta forces.
However, according to accounts of locals and video footage recorded by a civilian, there was no shootout in the area and the youths were dragged down from their apartment, beaten and kicked several times and shot. The Irrawaddy couldn’t independently verify the number of fatalities.
In Kayah State’s Demoso Township, which has seen intense clashes between junta forces and local civilian resistance fighters who took up arms against the junta, a 70-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with the UN emblem on it was shot dead on Sunday.
A 70-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with the UN emblem on it was shot dead on Sunday. / CJ
On Monday, the hearse carrying his body hit a mine reportedly planted by regime troops.
A score of civilians were also killed over the weekend in Sagaing Region, which has seen numerous junta raids in response to determined civilian resistance.
Heavy troops raided Tharsi Village of Sagaing’s Kalay Township on Sunday and shot and killed striking police officer Ko Zaw Myo Htut and villager Ko Than Htike Aung.
The People’s Defense Force-Kalay announced that the group attacked the troops with an allied group on their way back from Tharsi. During the clash, three junta troops were killed.
Sagaing Region’s local community pages reported that around four villagers including a woman in her 60s were killed in Nabutaw Village, Yinmabin Township on Sunday.
On Monday, junta soldiers also surrounded Monyway and Kyaymon villages in Monywa and arrested several villagers. At least two were reportedly shot dead by the time of publication of this article. Locals said the death toll could grow as the junta soldiers violently beat the detainees.
Since the coup, the junta has killed at least 1,125 civilians including youth activists, protesters, children, politicians and NLD members and supporters, and arrested more than 8,400 people, according to data compiled by the AAPP.
Myanmar Junta Kills Dozens in Latest Surge of Violence Against Civilians
Several members and followers of the NLD have died in custody, and many villagers, activists in areas known for anti-regime resistance have been shot dead in recent days.
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At least 20 Myanmar military soldiers were reportedly killed or wounded on Monday, after Karenni resistance fighters ambushed a convoy of junta reinforcements in Pinlaung, Shan State in southeastern Myanmar.
On Monday afternoon, members of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) from Pekon Township attacked a convoy of 45 military vehicles near Saung Pyaung Village in Pinlaung.
The KNDF said that the military regime reinforcements were travelling from Kalaw Township in Shan State to Demoso Township in Kayah State, where junta troops have encountered strong resistance from the combined forces of the KNDF and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party.
During the subsequent shootout, there were 20 military casualties, while no civilian fighters were killed or wounded, a KNDF spokesperson told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Myanmar military soldiers based in Moebye in Pekon Township opened fire randomly on nearby villages with heavy weapons. Some civilians were injured by the artillery fire, the KNDF said.
Regime forces were forced to retreat from Kone Thar Village in Demoso Township on Sunday, despite being reinforced and using heavy weapons, after facing intense resistance from Karenni armed groups for two days, Junta troops raided Kone Thar last Thursday.
Over 10 regime soldiers were killed in Kone Thar over the weekend, and two members of the KNDF died. One of the two KNDF fighters killed was slain on Sunday after being captured by junta troops.
A 70-year-old villager wearing a t-shirt bearing the United Nations emblem was also shot dead in Kone Thar on Sunday by regime forces. Another civilian died on the weekend in an explosion after he was caught in the middle of a firefight while travelling in a vehicle.
Junta troops raided homes in Kone Thar during the weekend clashes and burned down some 30 houses, according to the KNDF.
Armed opposition to the military regime began in late May in Kayah State. Since then, junta forces and Karenni resistance forces have clashed in four townships – Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw, across Kayah State, as well in Moebye, Pekon and Pinlaung in neighboring Shan State.
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On Monday afternoon, members of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) from Pekon Township attacked a convoy of 45 military vehicles near Saung Pyaung Village in Pinlaung.
The KNDF said that the military regime reinforcements were travelling from Kalaw Township in Shan State to Demoso Township in Kayah State, where junta troops have encountered strong resistance from the combined forces of the KNDF and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party.
During the subsequent shootout, there were 20 military casualties, while no civilian fighters were killed or wounded, a KNDF spokesperson told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Myanmar military soldiers based in Moebye in Pekon Township opened fire randomly on nearby villages with heavy weapons. Some civilians were injured by the artillery fire, the KNDF said.
Regime forces were forced to retreat from Kone Thar Village in Demoso Township on Sunday, despite being reinforced and using heavy weapons, after facing intense resistance from Karenni armed groups for two days, Junta troops raided Kone Thar last Thursday.
Over 10 regime soldiers were killed in Kone Thar over the weekend, and two members of the KNDF died. One of the two KNDF fighters killed was slain on Sunday after being captured by junta troops.
A 70-year-old villager wearing a t-shirt bearing the United Nations emblem was also shot dead in Kone Thar on Sunday by regime forces. Another civilian died on the weekend in an explosion after he was caught in the middle of a firefight while travelling in a vehicle.
Junta troops raided homes in Kone Thar during the weekend clashes and burned down some 30 houses, according to the KNDF.
Armed opposition to the military regime began in late May in Kayah State. Since then, junta forces and Karenni resistance forces have clashed in four townships – Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw, across Kayah State, as well in Moebye, Pekon and Pinlaung in neighboring Shan State.
Myanmar Junta Troops Ambushed in Shan State
Some 20 regime soldiers were reportedly killed or wounded in the clash with Karenni resistance fighters.
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Around 60 junta soldiers and six civilian resistance fighters were reportedly killed during fighting in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Kayah State on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, a combined force of Karenni civilian resistance fighters from Loikaw and Demoso townships in Kayah State and Moebye and Pekon townships in neighboring Shan State and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of Karenni Nationalities Progressive Party, ambushed a 40-vehicle military convoy at Kone Thar village near the Kayah capital, Loikaw.
During 10 hours of fighting, an estimated 30 junta soldiers were killed and around 30 injured while five of the attackers were killed, according to the Karenni resistance forces.
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force said it destroyed a military vehicle carrying weapons.
The Moebye People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Shan State said it attacked Battalion 422, which was using artillery against resistance forces near Kone Thar village, in an attempt to allow the trapped convoy to escape.
In the afternoon, the Pekon PDF attacked a junta headquarters in the township which was firing artillery at villages.
Karenni resistance against the junta started in late May in Kayah and Shan states after regime forces escalated attacks on peaceful anti-regime protesters across the country.
Fierce fighting is occurring in Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw townships in Kayah State and Moebye, Pekon and Pinlaung township in southern Shan State.
The junta has deployed hundreds of reinforcements from other states and regions and has been indiscriminately firing artillery at villages.
It is also laying landmines in residential areas while conducting raids in Kayah State.
More than 25 junta soldiers were killed in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region, on Wednesday when resistance forces and the Chin National Army from neighboring Chin State ambushed around 100 junta troops. The soldiers were planning to raid villages in the township, a resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
In retaliation, junta troops burned down eight Hnan Khar village houses in the township in a third attack on the village.
More than 50 houses in the village were torched by junta soldiers during raids on Sept 10 and 13.
The Kani PDF attacked military boats carrying food, weapons and around 200 troops on the Chindwin River in the Sagaing Region township on Wednesday.
The vessels heading north from Monywa were attacked four times, according to the Kani PDF.
The group reported heavy military casualties, the death of one PDF member and six injuries.
A member of the Kani PDF told The Irrawaddy that heavy homemade weapons were successfully used against the military vessels.
The number of military casualties is unknown.
Fighting has increased across Myanmar since Sept 7 when the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) declared its people’s war against the junta.
The regime has since escalated inspections, arrests, raids and violence, including burning down and bombarding residential areas, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
Between Sept 21 and 27, 224 junta soldiers were killed and 38 wounded during 211 incidents, including 17 attacks by ethnic armed groups and 41 by civilian resistance forces, according to the NUG.
Almost 60 civilians were killed and 28 wounded during the incidents, including 52 acts of junta violence.
Rakhine State is the only area of Myanmar where the junta is not facing regular attacks.
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On Wednesday morning, a combined force of Karenni civilian resistance fighters from Loikaw and Demoso townships in Kayah State and Moebye and Pekon townships in neighboring Shan State and the Karenni Army, the armed wing of Karenni Nationalities Progressive Party, ambushed a 40-vehicle military convoy at Kone Thar village near the Kayah capital, Loikaw.
During 10 hours of fighting, an estimated 30 junta soldiers were killed and around 30 injured while five of the attackers were killed, according to the Karenni resistance forces.
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force said it destroyed a military vehicle carrying weapons.
The Moebye People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Shan State said it attacked Battalion 422, which was using artillery against resistance forces near Kone Thar village, in an attempt to allow the trapped convoy to escape.
In the afternoon, the Pekon PDF attacked a junta headquarters in the township which was firing artillery at villages.
Karenni resistance against the junta started in late May in Kayah and Shan states after regime forces escalated attacks on peaceful anti-regime protesters across the country.
Fierce fighting is occurring in Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw townships in Kayah State and Moebye, Pekon and Pinlaung township in southern Shan State.
The junta has deployed hundreds of reinforcements from other states and regions and has been indiscriminately firing artillery at villages.
It is also laying landmines in residential areas while conducting raids in Kayah State.
More than 25 junta soldiers were killed in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region, on Wednesday when resistance forces and the Chin National Army from neighboring Chin State ambushed around 100 junta troops. The soldiers were planning to raid villages in the township, a resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
In retaliation, junta troops burned down eight Hnan Khar village houses in the township in a third attack on the village.
More than 50 houses in the village were torched by junta soldiers during raids on Sept 10 and 13.
The Kani PDF attacked military boats carrying food, weapons and around 200 troops on the Chindwin River in the Sagaing Region township on Wednesday.
The vessels heading north from Monywa were attacked four times, according to the Kani PDF.
The group reported heavy military casualties, the death of one PDF member and six injuries.
A member of the Kani PDF told The Irrawaddy that heavy homemade weapons were successfully used against the military vessels.
The number of military casualties is unknown.
Fighting has increased across Myanmar since Sept 7 when the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) declared its people’s war against the junta.
The regime has since escalated inspections, arrests, raids and violence, including burning down and bombarding residential areas, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
Between Sept 21 and 27, 224 junta soldiers were killed and 38 wounded during 211 incidents, including 17 attacks by ethnic armed groups and 41 by civilian resistance forces, according to the NUG.
Almost 60 civilians were killed and 28 wounded during the incidents, including 52 acts of junta violence.
Rakhine State is the only area of Myanmar where the junta is not facing regular attacks.
Around 60 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Fighting With Resistance Forces
Major ambushes were launched against regime forces in Kayah State and Magwe and Sagaing regions.
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The UN’s top humanitarian official in Myanmar said on Thursday the country’s people are living in “a severe crisis,” with a level of poverty not seen for at least 20 years.
In a virtual briefing for UN correspondents, Andrew Kirkwood said the number of people in the country needing aid has tripled to 3 million since the military takeover on Feb. 1, while a total of 20 million are living in poverty, or nearly half the population, AP news reported.
Speaking from Yangon, Kirkwood said the crisis is the result of increasing communal strife, the military ouster of the country’s democratically elected government and the coronavirus pandemic, which saw “a devastating third wave” of infections this summer.
“So, effectively, what we have here is a crisis, on top of a crisis with yet another crisis on top of that,” he said.
Since Feb. 1, Kirkwood said, the UN food and cash assistance program has reached more than 1.4 million people in rural communities all around Myanmar as well as in some urban and semi-urban centers.
“We are saving lives. We are making a difference,” Kirkwood said. “But we’re also quite frustrated that these numbers aren’t higher and that we aren’t able to reach all of the 3 million people who we know need urgent humanitarian assistance.”
The acting UN humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar cited “significant operational challenges” including roadblocks and travel in the country, pandemic restrictions, and overall insecurity. He called on all parties “to use their influence to facilitate the safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and also our humanitarian supplies.”
Kirkwood cited serious underfunding of the UN appeal as another key factor.
“We have requested a total of [US]$385 million to reach those 3 million people this year,” he said. “Today, we’ve received about a third of that. And that means we have a funding gap of roughly $250 million. And that means in turn that we won’t be able to reach everybody who needs our assistance.”
Kirkwood also called on parties to the conflict to “depoliticize our humanitarian and COVID-19 response efforts.”
“Emotions are running very high here,” he said. “Many people are frustrated, and some people frankly confuse the delivery of humanitarian assistance with taking sides in the conflict.”
Armed clashes and military operations have been taking place in the countryside almost daily, and the number of People’s Defense Force groups is increasing in Kayah and Chin states as well as in Sagaing Region.
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Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in Kayah State following fierce clashes between Karenni resistance groups and junta troops at the village of Konethar near the state capital, Loikaw.
Fighting broke out on Wednesday after Karenni resistance groups attempted to stop a junta convoy from Shan State near Konethar on the Shan-Kayah state border. The military convoy reportedly consisted of at least 300 troops and about 40 trucks.
The large village of Konethar has around 4,000 to 5,000 residents, according to villagers who fled their homes this week.
A female villager, who asked for anonymity, said junta troops fired artillery on the village on Wednesday and she saw at least 10 houses hit by shells before she fled her home.
“We thought we would die as we were trapped in our homes. We felt helpless as many artillery shells landed on our village. We packed our belongings overnight and fled this morning when they stopped firing,” she said on Thursday.
Some elderly residents and nuns who care for them remain trapped, villagers said.
Villagers fled their homes for surrounding forests in May due to fighting.
The combined forces of Karenni Army (KA), Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), Loikaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), Demoso PDF and Pekon PDF are fighting regime troops near Konethar.
Resistance fighters in Pekon and Moe Bye ambushed the military convoy heading to Kayah State when it entered Pekon from Pinlaung Township in Shan State on Monday.
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Once thought of as a safe haven for generals, the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw’s image as a fortress was dented on Thursday afternoon when an explosion rocked a military facility in the city.
The first-ever attack on a military-related building in the official seat of the Myanmar military regime was made public by the Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), which claimed responsibility for the explosion at the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township.
The Naypyitaw PDF, which operates under the command of the Central Command of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)’s Defense Ministry, said it carried out the attack together with another revolutionary group that does not want to be named.
The attack on the military office came hours after regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun, speaking at a press conference, challenged the NUG ministers to come out of hiding.
According to the security forces’ internal report, which went viral online, an explosive planted inside a flower pot under the building’s portico went off at around 5 in the afternoon. Pictures from the scene show that the portico ceiling and a vehicle nearby were damaged. No one was injured.
Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun was not available for comment on Friday.
The request for anonymity by the group that reportedly carried out the joint attack with the Naypyitaw PDF is unusual. PDFs have for the most part revealed their identities when claiming previous attacks on military targets.
The Naypyitaw PDF warned that Thursday’s attack was intended merely as an initial warning to a handful of regime stooges it said had ignored the people by failing to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, adding that harsher punitive actions would be taken against them in the near future.
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The southeastern commander of Myanmar’s junta has survived an ambush by a Karen rebel group during his trip to Myawaddy Township, Karen State, on Friday, according to the Karen media.
At 9am on Friday, a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) led by Brigadier General Saw Kyaw Thet ambushed a military convoy carrying Brigadier General Ko Ko Maung near the Kyaik Don junction on the Kawkareik-Myawaddy highway.
An officer from the junta-allied Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) told The Irrawaddy that the ambush targeted the commander.
Four junta soldiers were reportedly killed and three others, including a major, were wounded, according to the Karen media.
However, the BGF officer denied there were any military deaths only injuries and the commander arrived safely in Myawaddy, he said.
After the ambush, junta forces used artillery against nearby villages and some houses were damaged, the media reported.
The DKBA splinter group was unavailable for comment.
On Thursday evening, a junta office was bombed in Bayintnaung ward, Pobbathiri Township, Naypyitaw.
A military vehicle and the office were damaged but no casualties were reported.
On Friday, Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force claimed responsibility for the bombing attack.
www.irrawaddy.com
In a virtual briefing for UN correspondents, Andrew Kirkwood said the number of people in the country needing aid has tripled to 3 million since the military takeover on Feb. 1, while a total of 20 million are living in poverty, or nearly half the population, AP news reported.
Speaking from Yangon, Kirkwood said the crisis is the result of increasing communal strife, the military ouster of the country’s democratically elected government and the coronavirus pandemic, which saw “a devastating third wave” of infections this summer.
“So, effectively, what we have here is a crisis, on top of a crisis with yet another crisis on top of that,” he said.
Since Feb. 1, Kirkwood said, the UN food and cash assistance program has reached more than 1.4 million people in rural communities all around Myanmar as well as in some urban and semi-urban centers.
“We are saving lives. We are making a difference,” Kirkwood said. “But we’re also quite frustrated that these numbers aren’t higher and that we aren’t able to reach all of the 3 million people who we know need urgent humanitarian assistance.”
The acting UN humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar cited “significant operational challenges” including roadblocks and travel in the country, pandemic restrictions, and overall insecurity. He called on all parties “to use their influence to facilitate the safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and also our humanitarian supplies.”
Kirkwood cited serious underfunding of the UN appeal as another key factor.
“We have requested a total of [US]$385 million to reach those 3 million people this year,” he said. “Today, we’ve received about a third of that. And that means we have a funding gap of roughly $250 million. And that means in turn that we won’t be able to reach everybody who needs our assistance.”
Kirkwood also called on parties to the conflict to “depoliticize our humanitarian and COVID-19 response efforts.”
“Emotions are running very high here,” he said. “Many people are frustrated, and some people frankly confuse the delivery of humanitarian assistance with taking sides in the conflict.”
Armed clashes and military operations have been taking place in the countryside almost daily, and the number of People’s Defense Force groups is increasing in Kayah and Chin states as well as in Sagaing Region.
UN Says Poverty in Myanmar at Worst Level in 20 Years Following Coup
Nearly half the population is in poverty due to the effects of the military takeover, conflict and COVID, the UN’s aid chief in Myanmar said, calling for more funding.
www.irrawaddy.com
Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in Kayah State following fierce clashes between Karenni resistance groups and junta troops at the village of Konethar near the state capital, Loikaw.
Fighting broke out on Wednesday after Karenni resistance groups attempted to stop a junta convoy from Shan State near Konethar on the Shan-Kayah state border. The military convoy reportedly consisted of at least 300 troops and about 40 trucks.
The large village of Konethar has around 4,000 to 5,000 residents, according to villagers who fled their homes this week.
A female villager, who asked for anonymity, said junta troops fired artillery on the village on Wednesday and she saw at least 10 houses hit by shells before she fled her home.
“We thought we would die as we were trapped in our homes. We felt helpless as many artillery shells landed on our village. We packed our belongings overnight and fled this morning when they stopped firing,” she said on Thursday.
Some elderly residents and nuns who care for them remain trapped, villagers said.
Villagers fled their homes for surrounding forests in May due to fighting.
The combined forces of Karenni Army (KA), Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), Loikaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), Demoso PDF and Pekon PDF are fighting regime troops near Konethar.
Resistance fighters in Pekon and Moe Bye ambushed the military convoy heading to Kayah State when it entered Pekon from Pinlaung Township in Shan State on Monday.
Thousands Flee Clashes Between Myanmar Junta and Karenni Resistance
The Karenni resistance has attacked a large convoy of regime troops who were sent from Shan State to reinforce the junta’s embattled soldiers in Kayah State.
www.irrawaddy.com
Once thought of as a safe haven for generals, the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw’s image as a fortress was dented on Thursday afternoon when an explosion rocked a military facility in the city.
The first-ever attack on a military-related building in the official seat of the Myanmar military regime was made public by the Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), which claimed responsibility for the explosion at the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township.
The Naypyitaw PDF, which operates under the command of the Central Command of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)’s Defense Ministry, said it carried out the attack together with another revolutionary group that does not want to be named.
The attack on the military office came hours after regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun, speaking at a press conference, challenged the NUG ministers to come out of hiding.
According to the security forces’ internal report, which went viral online, an explosive planted inside a flower pot under the building’s portico went off at around 5 in the afternoon. Pictures from the scene show that the portico ceiling and a vehicle nearby were damaged. No one was injured.
Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun was not available for comment on Friday.
The request for anonymity by the group that reportedly carried out the joint attack with the Naypyitaw PDF is unusual. PDFs have for the most part revealed their identities when claiming previous attacks on military targets.
The Naypyitaw PDF warned that Thursday’s attack was intended merely as an initial warning to a handful of regime stooges it said had ignored the people by failing to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, adding that harsher punitive actions would be taken against them in the near future.
People’s Defense Force Claims Blast at Military Office in Myanmar’s Capital
The resistance group said the explosion, which damaged a building but caused no injuries, was a warning to officials who failed to join the Civil Disobedience Movement.
www.irrawaddy.com
The southeastern commander of Myanmar’s junta has survived an ambush by a Karen rebel group during his trip to Myawaddy Township, Karen State, on Friday, according to the Karen media.
At 9am on Friday, a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) led by Brigadier General Saw Kyaw Thet ambushed a military convoy carrying Brigadier General Ko Ko Maung near the Kyaik Don junction on the Kawkareik-Myawaddy highway.
An officer from the junta-allied Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) told The Irrawaddy that the ambush targeted the commander.
Four junta soldiers were reportedly killed and three others, including a major, were wounded, according to the Karen media.
However, the BGF officer denied there were any military deaths only injuries and the commander arrived safely in Myawaddy, he said.
After the ambush, junta forces used artillery against nearby villages and some houses were damaged, the media reported.
The DKBA splinter group was unavailable for comment.
On Thursday evening, a junta office was bombed in Bayintnaung ward, Pobbathiri Township, Naypyitaw.
A military vehicle and the office were damaged but no casualties were reported.
On Friday, Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force claimed responsibility for the bombing attack.
Karen Armed Group Ambushes Myanmar Junta Regional Commander
Brigadier General Ko Ko Maung, the regime’s southeastern commander, has survived an attack in Karen State by a Democratic Karen Buddhist Army splinter group.
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About 100 junta soldiers were killed during fighting in a single day in Sagaing, Magwe and Tanintharyi regions on Sunday.
The Defense Ministry of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) stated in a recent briefing that 37 attacks against junta targets were carried out on Sunday by local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) formed by civilian resistance fighters. During the attacks, the military suffered heavy losses with a total of 96 of its troops dead, the ministry stated.
Those included firefights with junta troops, bombings of military convoys, and raids on security outposts and military-owned businesses.
Myanmar’s junta is facing increasing attacks from armed resistance volunteers and ethnic armed groups across the country after the NUG’s declaration of the start of a people’s defensive war on the regime on Sept. 7.
Since then, junta forces have also escalated inspections, arrests, raids and violence, including burning down and bombarding residential areas, especially in the resistance strongholds of Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
According to the ministry’s briefing, the junta suffered its heaviest losses over the weekend in Pale Township, Sagaing Region, where twin attacks on a military convoy in the township left 61 soldiers dead.
The Pale PDF also attacked a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles carrying reinforcements to the township on Monday morning. Five of the 80 vehicles were damaged and several soldiers were killed during the attack, in which 27 landmines were triggered, according to the group’s announcement.
And in Sagaing’s Kale Township, PDF-Kale also attacked a military convoy with two landmines on Sunday morning. During the attacks, one soldier was killed and at least three were injured according to the PDF-Kale.
At around 11 a.m., a combined force of the group and the Chin National Defense Force (CNDF) ambushed a group of military vehicles. During the shootout, 10 junta soldiers were killed. On the civilian force side, one was injured, the PDF-Kale stated in its announcement.
In Gangaw of Magwe Region, nine soldiers were killed as local civilian resistance fighters ambushed troops returning from setting fire to internally displaced persons camps, the NUG said.
An attack also occurred in Putao, Kachin State, in which the local PDF attacked a security gate as a warning amid reports of a possible trip to the township by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Attacks were also reported in places including Monywa, Sagaing Region; Mawgyun, Ayeyarwady Region; Wetlet, Sagaing; Yesagyo, Magwe Region; Thongwa, Yangon Region; and Thayatchaung, Tanintharyi Region.
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the junta has killed more than 1,154 people during crackdowns, arrests, interrogations, raids and random shootings, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported on Monday.
Over 8,700 people, including elected leaders, protesters, striking civil servants and student activists have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
www.irrawaddy.com
The Defense Ministry of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) stated in a recent briefing that 37 attacks against junta targets were carried out on Sunday by local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) formed by civilian resistance fighters. During the attacks, the military suffered heavy losses with a total of 96 of its troops dead, the ministry stated.
Those included firefights with junta troops, bombings of military convoys, and raids on security outposts and military-owned businesses.
Myanmar’s junta is facing increasing attacks from armed resistance volunteers and ethnic armed groups across the country after the NUG’s declaration of the start of a people’s defensive war on the regime on Sept. 7.
Since then, junta forces have also escalated inspections, arrests, raids and violence, including burning down and bombarding residential areas, especially in the resistance strongholds of Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Kayah states.
According to the ministry’s briefing, the junta suffered its heaviest losses over the weekend in Pale Township, Sagaing Region, where twin attacks on a military convoy in the township left 61 soldiers dead.
The Pale PDF also attacked a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles carrying reinforcements to the township on Monday morning. Five of the 80 vehicles were damaged and several soldiers were killed during the attack, in which 27 landmines were triggered, according to the group’s announcement.
And in Sagaing’s Kale Township, PDF-Kale also attacked a military convoy with two landmines on Sunday morning. During the attacks, one soldier was killed and at least three were injured according to the PDF-Kale.
At around 11 a.m., a combined force of the group and the Chin National Defense Force (CNDF) ambushed a group of military vehicles. During the shootout, 10 junta soldiers were killed. On the civilian force side, one was injured, the PDF-Kale stated in its announcement.
In Gangaw of Magwe Region, nine soldiers were killed as local civilian resistance fighters ambushed troops returning from setting fire to internally displaced persons camps, the NUG said.
An attack also occurred in Putao, Kachin State, in which the local PDF attacked a security gate as a warning amid reports of a possible trip to the township by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Attacks were also reported in places including Monywa, Sagaing Region; Mawgyun, Ayeyarwady Region; Wetlet, Sagaing; Yesagyo, Magwe Region; Thongwa, Yangon Region; and Thayatchaung, Tanintharyi Region.
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the junta has killed more than 1,154 people during crackdowns, arrests, interrogations, raids and random shootings, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported on Monday.
Over 8,700 people, including elected leaders, protesters, striking civil servants and student activists have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
Some 100 Junta Troops Killed in a Day in Clashes Across Myanmar
Civilian armed resistance groups staged 37 attacks against regime targets in Sagaing, Magwe, Tanintharyi and elsewhere on Sunday, the National Unity Government said.
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Voicing the frustration of ASEAN members, Malaysia’s foreign minister has warned that the leader of Myanmar’s military regime could be excluded from a regional summit scheduled for later this month over the junta’s failure to cooperate with the regional bloc’s efforts to resolve the country’s crisis.
ASEAN member Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since a military coup in February, which was followed by bloody crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The international community had pushed for diplomatic efforts by a special envoy appointed by ASEAN.
As soon as the regional grouping’s foreign ministers’ meeting ended on Monday, member nations joined in a chorus of disappointment at the foot dragging by Myanmar’s military rulers.
According to an announcement by Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry, during the meeting the regime’s foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, discussed the ongoing negotiations over a proposed visit to the country by ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof, who seeks to meet with all stakeholders. Brunei’s second foreign minister, Yusof was appointed as the envoy in August but the regime has yet to approve a visit by him.
By most other accounts, however, the meeting on Monday didn’t go well.
After the meeting, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah tweeted that he stated at the meeting that ASEAN members were disappointed as Myanmar authorities have not cooperated with the special envoy and warned that Myanmar could be excluded from this month’s summit if there is no progress.
“Unless there is progress, it would be difficult to have the Chairman of the SAC at the ASEAN Summit (26-28 Oct 21),” he said, referring to coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The SAC, or State Administration Council, is a ruling organ set up by the junta.
The Myanmar junta leader desperately wants to attend the upcoming summit, according to diplomats in Yangon. He seeks to show that the junta has legitimacy and wants to make the most of his appearance at the meeting as a sign of “acceptance” from the regional grouping.
Moreover, Myanmar is rapidly sliding into the condition of a failed state; the country is in chaos and the regime still can’t fully control the country since the military staged an illegitimate coup in February.
At a news conference following Monday’s meeting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed a similar view to her Malaysian counterpart, saying there had been no significant progress in Myanmar and “most members expressed disappointment.”
“The military has not given a positive response to what has been attempted by the special envoy,” she said, according to Reuters.
Yusof has said that as envoy he seeks full access to all parties, including detained and ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials detained by the military during its power grab.
Instead of a meeting with the detained State Counselor, however, Yusof has been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources in Myanmar said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is being detained by the junta at an unknown location in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw. She faces a raft of charges including breaching COVID-19 regulations, sedition, illegal possession of walkie-talkies and numerous counts of corruption.
ASEAN diplomats familiar with the Myanmar issue said the regime’s leaders still believe they can use the regional grouping to gain legitimacy.
Myanmar security personnel have used force to try and quash the peaceful protests and mass disobedience movement that emerged in the wake of the coup, killing more than 1,100 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group that has been tracking the situation. Daily clashes, bombings and killings targeting the regime’s troops have occurred in Myanmar since late March.
www.irrawaddy.com
Twelve village administrators in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, have resigned after the township’s People’s Defense Force (PDF) warned them to quit by October 10.
Tensions are running high between Myanmar’s military and civilian resistance fighters in Katha.
Administrators of 12 village-tracts submitted a joint resignation letter to the township’s General Administration Department on Monday. In their letter, they said they had difficulties managing their villages because of the resignation of their subordinates and safety concerns.
Katha is made up of 10 wards and 32 village-tracts which consist of 143 villages.
“It is likely that others will resign too very soon because the PDF has issued the warning. Only those who don’t fear will remain in their posts. The PDF has warned administrators to resign by October 10. So administrators submitted resignations for fear of the risks to their lives and their families,” said an administrator in Katha who asked for anonymity for security concerns. He said he was submitting his resignation soon.
Katha PDF issued the warning to administrators on Sunday and asked community leaders and administrators who have allegedly supported the regime to leave the township.
Ward and village administrators form the backbone of the regime’s administrative mechanism and thus are targeted by resistance groups. Following the regime’s lethal crackdown on peaceful protesters, administration offices were attacked across the country and dozens of ward and village administrators were killed.
Military tensions are running high in Katha after the township PDF carried out a mine attack on junta soldiers on Oct. 1.
As Katha borders Bhamo District in Kachin State, the Katha PDF also operates in cooperation with Battalion 5 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group based in Kachin.
Katha PDF launched attacks against the regime on May 30, ambushing a junta convoy on the Katha-Bhamo road. The attack was assisted by Battalion 5.
The regime has bombed with helicopters and shelled in the town following the ambush, displacing some 25,000 residents from Moe Tar Gyi village-tract near Katha-Bhamo road.
www.irrawaddy.com
One of the Myanmar military regime’s most notorious commanders will lead clearance operations against civilian resistance fighters in the country’s most restive regions, according to a former army captain.
Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar Police and the regime’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister, is set to take charge of operations against People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State. Over 1,080 junta troops have been killed in those areas in the last three months alone.
The former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Lt-Gen Than Hlaing and Lieutenant General Tayza Kyaw have been assigned to the northwestern military command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region to lead the military’s operations against the PDF.
Around 3,000 junta reinforcements have been sent to the region as well, the former captain said. Since the second week of September, internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime in most of the townships where civilian resistance fighters are most active.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing was appointed as chief of the Myanmar Police and Deputy Home Affairs Minister the day after the coup. Since then, he has earned notoriety for commanding lethal and brutal crackdowns against peaceful anti-regime protesters and striking civil servants.
One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing’s younger brother Ko So Moe Hlaing, 53, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region.
As of Monday, 1,158 people have been killed by the junta in their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary shootings since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,743 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or are the subject of arrest warrants.
The European Union, United States, United Kingdom and Canada have all imposed sanctions on Lt-Gen Than Hlaing for overseeing the crackdowns on civilians.
His mission in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State comes as the Myanmar military is suffering an ever-increasing number of casualties in ambushes and attacks by civilian resistance fighters as they step up their operations against regime forces.
Over 840 junta soldiers were killed in Sagaing Region between June and August, while another 105 regime troops died in Magwe Region. 136 junta soldiers were killed in Chin State in the same period, according to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG).
In response, around 700 to 800 junta reinforcements have been deployed since last week at Shwe Taung O, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a member of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy.
However, regime forces have not yet started any operations in Kani Township, apart from military vessels patrolling the Chindwin River, added the civilian resistance fighter.
The former army captain who spoke to The Irrawaddy said that the military’s operations in the area would start within a week, and that many civilians will be put in danger by their activities.
“We are ready to resist if they raid our region. We have no plan to flee. We are no longer afraid of the damage to our villages because the whole country is being damaged by the military regime,” the Kani-PDF member told The Irrawaddy.
“We can rebuild the country within five or ten years if the whole country becomes a battlefield. But we will suffer more trouble and oppression for up to 100 years if we are defeated by the military dictatorship,” he added.
On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements to Pale Township in Sagaing Region. Five of the 80 vehicles were damaged by landmines and several soldiers were killed in the attack. Much of the convoy reached Gangaw Township in Magwe Region the following day, according to the Gangaw-PDF.
Most of the civilian resistance fighters in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State are armed with old-fashioned or homemade weapons and mines, while the junta forces are using automatic weapons, heavy explosives, jet fighters, helicopters and gunboats in some of the clashes.
“It is time now for the NUG to supply us with weapons. Otherwise, many people could die here,” said a leader of the Gangaw-PDF.
Regime forces have escalated their raids and acts of violence in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State since the NUG declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. Junta troops have burned down villages, launched artillery strikes against residential areas in towns and killed civilians, including a five-year-old girl.
www.irrawaddy.com
ASEAN member Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since a military coup in February, which was followed by bloody crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The international community had pushed for diplomatic efforts by a special envoy appointed by ASEAN.
As soon as the regional grouping’s foreign ministers’ meeting ended on Monday, member nations joined in a chorus of disappointment at the foot dragging by Myanmar’s military rulers.
According to an announcement by Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry, during the meeting the regime’s foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, discussed the ongoing negotiations over a proposed visit to the country by ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof, who seeks to meet with all stakeholders. Brunei’s second foreign minister, Yusof was appointed as the envoy in August but the regime has yet to approve a visit by him.
By most other accounts, however, the meeting on Monday didn’t go well.
After the meeting, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah tweeted that he stated at the meeting that ASEAN members were disappointed as Myanmar authorities have not cooperated with the special envoy and warned that Myanmar could be excluded from this month’s summit if there is no progress.
“Unless there is progress, it would be difficult to have the Chairman of the SAC at the ASEAN Summit (26-28 Oct 21),” he said, referring to coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The SAC, or State Administration Council, is a ruling organ set up by the junta.
The Myanmar junta leader desperately wants to attend the upcoming summit, according to diplomats in Yangon. He seeks to show that the junta has legitimacy and wants to make the most of his appearance at the meeting as a sign of “acceptance” from the regional grouping.
Moreover, Myanmar is rapidly sliding into the condition of a failed state; the country is in chaos and the regime still can’t fully control the country since the military staged an illegitimate coup in February.
At a news conference following Monday’s meeting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed a similar view to her Malaysian counterpart, saying there had been no significant progress in Myanmar and “most members expressed disappointment.”
“The military has not given a positive response to what has been attempted by the special envoy,” she said, according to Reuters.
Yusof has said that as envoy he seeks full access to all parties, including detained and ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials detained by the military during its power grab.
Instead of a meeting with the detained State Counselor, however, Yusof has been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources in Myanmar said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is being detained by the junta at an unknown location in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw. She faces a raft of charges including breaching COVID-19 regulations, sedition, illegal possession of walkie-talkies and numerous counts of corruption.
ASEAN diplomats familiar with the Myanmar issue said the regime’s leaders still believe they can use the regional grouping to gain legitimacy.
Myanmar security personnel have used force to try and quash the peaceful protests and mass disobedience movement that emerged in the wake of the coup, killing more than 1,100 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group that has been tracking the situation. Daily clashes, bombings and killings targeting the regime’s troops have occurred in Myanmar since late March.
Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysian FM
The regional grouping’s frustration with the regime over its refusal to cooperate with the ASEAN envoy became apparent after a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday.
www.irrawaddy.com
Twelve village administrators in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, have resigned after the township’s People’s Defense Force (PDF) warned them to quit by October 10.
Tensions are running high between Myanmar’s military and civilian resistance fighters in Katha.
Administrators of 12 village-tracts submitted a joint resignation letter to the township’s General Administration Department on Monday. In their letter, they said they had difficulties managing their villages because of the resignation of their subordinates and safety concerns.
Katha is made up of 10 wards and 32 village-tracts which consist of 143 villages.
“It is likely that others will resign too very soon because the PDF has issued the warning. Only those who don’t fear will remain in their posts. The PDF has warned administrators to resign by October 10. So administrators submitted resignations for fear of the risks to their lives and their families,” said an administrator in Katha who asked for anonymity for security concerns. He said he was submitting his resignation soon.
Katha PDF issued the warning to administrators on Sunday and asked community leaders and administrators who have allegedly supported the regime to leave the township.
Ward and village administrators form the backbone of the regime’s administrative mechanism and thus are targeted by resistance groups. Following the regime’s lethal crackdown on peaceful protesters, administration offices were attacked across the country and dozens of ward and village administrators were killed.
Military tensions are running high in Katha after the township PDF carried out a mine attack on junta soldiers on Oct. 1.
As Katha borders Bhamo District in Kachin State, the Katha PDF also operates in cooperation with Battalion 5 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group based in Kachin.
Katha PDF launched attacks against the regime on May 30, ambushing a junta convoy on the Katha-Bhamo road. The attack was assisted by Battalion 5.
The regime has bombed with helicopters and shelled in the town following the ambush, displacing some 25,000 residents from Moe Tar Gyi village-tract near Katha-Bhamo road.
Myanmar Regime-Appointed Administrators Quit After Threats From Resistance
So far 12 have resigned and more are expected to follow in an anti-regime stronghold in upper Myanmar.
www.irrawaddy.com
One of the Myanmar military regime’s most notorious commanders will lead clearance operations against civilian resistance fighters in the country’s most restive regions, according to a former army captain.
Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar Police and the regime’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister, is set to take charge of operations against People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State. Over 1,080 junta troops have been killed in those areas in the last three months alone.
The former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Lt-Gen Than Hlaing and Lieutenant General Tayza Kyaw have been assigned to the northwestern military command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region to lead the military’s operations against the PDF.
Around 3,000 junta reinforcements have been sent to the region as well, the former captain said. Since the second week of September, internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime in most of the townships where civilian resistance fighters are most active.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing was appointed as chief of the Myanmar Police and Deputy Home Affairs Minister the day after the coup. Since then, he has earned notoriety for commanding lethal and brutal crackdowns against peaceful anti-regime protesters and striking civil servants.
One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing’s younger brother Ko So Moe Hlaing, 53, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region.
As of Monday, 1,158 people have been killed by the junta in their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary shootings since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,743 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or are the subject of arrest warrants.
The European Union, United States, United Kingdom and Canada have all imposed sanctions on Lt-Gen Than Hlaing for overseeing the crackdowns on civilians.
His mission in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State comes as the Myanmar military is suffering an ever-increasing number of casualties in ambushes and attacks by civilian resistance fighters as they step up their operations against regime forces.
Over 840 junta soldiers were killed in Sagaing Region between June and August, while another 105 regime troops died in Magwe Region. 136 junta soldiers were killed in Chin State in the same period, according to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG).
In response, around 700 to 800 junta reinforcements have been deployed since last week at Shwe Taung O, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a member of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy.
However, regime forces have not yet started any operations in Kani Township, apart from military vessels patrolling the Chindwin River, added the civilian resistance fighter.
The former army captain who spoke to The Irrawaddy said that the military’s operations in the area would start within a week, and that many civilians will be put in danger by their activities.
“We are ready to resist if they raid our region. We have no plan to flee. We are no longer afraid of the damage to our villages because the whole country is being damaged by the military regime,” the Kani-PDF member told The Irrawaddy.
“We can rebuild the country within five or ten years if the whole country becomes a battlefield. But we will suffer more trouble and oppression for up to 100 years if we are defeated by the military dictatorship,” he added.
On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements to Pale Township in Sagaing Region. Five of the 80 vehicles were damaged by landmines and several soldiers were killed in the attack. Much of the convoy reached Gangaw Township in Magwe Region the following day, according to the Gangaw-PDF.
Most of the civilian resistance fighters in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State are armed with old-fashioned or homemade weapons and mines, while the junta forces are using automatic weapons, heavy explosives, jet fighters, helicopters and gunboats in some of the clashes.
“It is time now for the NUG to supply us with weapons. Otherwise, many people could die here,” said a leader of the Gangaw-PDF.
Regime forces have escalated their raids and acts of violence in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State since the NUG declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. Junta troops have burned down villages, launched artillery strikes against residential areas in towns and killed civilians, including a five-year-old girl.
Notorious Myanmar Military Commander to Lead Clearance Operations
Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police, will supervise junta raids and operations against civilian resistance fighters.
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Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital and the seat of office of the military regime, has seen three explosions within a week, with the latest ones occurring on Tuesday, including a bloody blast at the Myanmar Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
In the most serious incident so far, five policemen including a senior officer were seriously wounded at the department on Tuesday afternoon when an explosive went off in the office.
Police sources confirmed the blast.
Myanmar has seen guerrilla-style attacks against its military rulers across the country following the coup in February, in which the military seized power from the country’s democratically elected government. While regime targets in many parts of the country have been hit by attacks—sometimes deadly—over the last eight months, the capital had been relatively safe until last month.
The first attack on Naypyitaw—once thought of as a safe haven for generals—came on Thursday last week when an explosion rocked the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township. No one was injured.
The Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), a civilian resistance force opposing the junta which operates under the Central Command of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)’s Defense Ministry, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it worked together with another revolutionary group that did not want to be named.
On the same day, a shuttle bus from the regime’s Immigration Department in the capital was attacked with a remotely detonated bomb, causing some minor damage to the vehicle.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for that blast.
Following the first explosion last week, the Naypyitaw PDF said the attack was intended merely as an initial warning to a handful of regime stooges it said had ignored the people by failing to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, adding that harsher punitive actions would be taken against them in the near future.
www.irrawaddy.com
Over 40 junta troops were reportedly killed and another 30 injured on Tuesday evening in an ambush by civilian resistance fighters in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region, according to the Yaw Defense Force (YDF).
YDF said that its members ambushed a military convoy of 50 vehicles, including armored cars, with 14 landmines while it was travelling on the Gangaw-Pale Highway. Over 40 soldiers were killed, 30 injured and five vehicles and an armored car were damaged in the attack.
However, The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the regime casualties independently.
A statement by the YDF said that its civilian resistance fighters were able to escape the scene, despite junta forces randomly opening fire with automatic weapons and grenades.
YDF has urged people to avoid using the Gangaw-Kale and Gangaw-Htilin highways due to the potential of being caught in the crossfire between junta troops and local people’s defense forces (PDF’s).
Another military convoy of around 18 vehicles was also ambushed on Tuesday evening on the Gangaw-Kale Highway. The convoy was travelling from Kale Township in Sagaing Region to Gangaw.
A civilian resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy that two vehicles were damaged in the landmine attack and that the military suffered some casualties.
One of the military regime’s most notorious commanders, Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police and the junta’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister, has now been assigned to take charge of operations against PDF’s in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State, according to a former army captain who defected from the military after the February 1 coup.
Almost 1,100 junta troops have been killed in those areas in the last three months alone. The Myanmar military has also sent 3,000 reinforcements to Sagaing, Magwe and Chin.
Since the second week of September, internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime in most townships in the regions and states where PDFs are most active. Junta forces have used heavy explosives, jet fighters and helicopters in the clashes with civilian resistance fighters, as well as burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
As of Tuesday, 1,158 people have been slain since the coup by regime forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,756 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
www.irrawaddy.com
Malaysia’s Foreign Minister issued a warning to Myanmar’s ruling generals that his country is ready to hold talks with Myanmar’s shadow government, if the junta continues to fail to cooperate with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy to Myanmar to solve the crisis sparked by the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup.
Saifuddin Abdullah told the lower house of the Malaysian Parliament on Wednesday that Malaysia is considering holding dialogue with the National Unity Government (NUG) if the military regime does not cooperate with the five-point consensus agreed upon by ASEAN to resolve the crisis, according to a local news agency Bernama.
ASEAN member Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the coup, which was followed by lethal and brutal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The international community had pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and ASEAN has appointed a special envoy who the junta has agreed to cooperate with, the one point of the five-point consensus that the junta has agreed to follow.
If Malaysia does meet with the NUG, it would be the first ASEAN country to hold official talks with Myanmar’s parallel government, which was formed by elected lawmakers from the ousted NLD.
That would be a huge blow to the junta, which has desperately been seeking official recognition from other countries, especially those in ASEAN, as Myanmar’s rightful government.
On Monday, the Malaysian Foreign Minister said that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing could be excluded from a regional summit scheduled for later this month over the junta’s failure to cooperate with ASEAN’s efforts.
He voiced his frustrations after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Monday, when he was informed that Naypyitaw was still not cooperating with the terms of the consensus.
In particular, the regime is blocking the proposed visit to Myanmar by ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof, who is seeking to meet all stakeholders in the crisis, including detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the ASEAN envoy in August.
However, so far Yusof has only been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources in Myanmar said.
Following the tussle, the special envoy said on Wednesday that the bloc was “deep in discussions” about not inviting junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to the summit on October 26-28, after the issue was raised by the Malaysian Foreign Minister and others.
“Up until today there has been no progress on the implementation of the five-point consensus, and this has raised a concern,” he said, according to Reuters.
Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing is very keen to attend the upcoming ASEAN summit, according to diplomats in Yangon, seeing it as a way of demonstrating the junta’s legitimacy and as a sign of ASEAN’s ‘acceptance’ of his dictatorship.
On Tuesday in Europe, the French senate voted unanimously to recognize the NUG. If the French parliament’s lower house approves the vote, France will become the first country to officially recognize Myanmar’s shadow government.
On the same day, the United States introduced the Burma Act, which aims to put more pressure on the junta by imposing sanctions on individuals and entities who helped stage the coup and who are responsible for the subsequent repression.
The new authorization calls for Washington to pressure the United Nations to take more decisive action on Myanmar, as well as to make a genocide determination over the persecution of the Rohingya ethnic minority, while supporting civil society organizations and allowing for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and the surrounding region.
In the meantime, Myanmar is rapidly sliding towards becoming a failed state, with the country in chaos and the military regime unable to control many regions as armed civilian resistance to the junta intensifies.
www.irrawaddy.com
Civilian resistance fighters clashed with around 100 junta troops on Wednesday in Mingin Township, Sagaing Region, according to the township People’s Defense Force (PDF).
The clash followed regime raids on five villages in Mingin on Tuesday. Heavy rain forced the Mingin-PDF to wait until Wednesday before confronting the junta soldiers, said the leader of the Mingin-PDF.
“We were waiting [on Tuesday] because we knew that they were coming. They came and raided villages. But it rained and we only have traditional hunting rifles that don’t work in the rain,” he said.
Wednesday’s fighting lasted for around 45 minutes and one civilian resistance fighter was injured by junta shelling, added the Mingin-PDF commander.
“We were upset when we saw the damage they [junta forces] had done to those villages, and we decided to chase and fight them at the risk of our lives,” said a Mingin-PDF fighter.
Over 3,000 people were forced to flee their villages following the junta raids on Tuesday.
Since September, the military regime has brought in troop reinforcements and extra weapons to Sagaing Region, launching attacks on areas where civilian armed resistance is strong.
Junta soldiers have raided villages in several Sagaing townships including Kani, Yinmabin, Pale, Myaung, Tabayin, Taze and Mingin. Civilians have been killed or detained, and many houses looted and burned down during the raids.
Dozens of regime troops have reportedly been killed in ambushes and mine attacks carried out by local PDF’s.
www.irrawaddy.com
In the most serious incident so far, five policemen including a senior officer were seriously wounded at the department on Tuesday afternoon when an explosive went off in the office.
Police sources confirmed the blast.
Myanmar has seen guerrilla-style attacks against its military rulers across the country following the coup in February, in which the military seized power from the country’s democratically elected government. While regime targets in many parts of the country have been hit by attacks—sometimes deadly—over the last eight months, the capital had been relatively safe until last month.
The first attack on Naypyitaw—once thought of as a safe haven for generals—came on Thursday last week when an explosion rocked the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township. No one was injured.
The Naypyitaw People’s Defense Force (PDF), a civilian resistance force opposing the junta which operates under the Central Command of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)’s Defense Ministry, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it worked together with another revolutionary group that did not want to be named.
On the same day, a shuttle bus from the regime’s Immigration Department in the capital was attacked with a remotely detonated bomb, causing some minor damage to the vehicle.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for that blast.
Following the first explosion last week, the Naypyitaw PDF said the attack was intended merely as an initial warning to a handful of regime stooges it said had ignored the people by failing to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, adding that harsher punitive actions would be taken against them in the near future.
Five Police Hurt as Another Explosion Strikes Regime Target in Myanmar’s Capital
A senior police officer was among those injured when a bomb exploded at the Criminal Investigation Department in Naypyitaw.
www.irrawaddy.com
Over 40 junta troops were reportedly killed and another 30 injured on Tuesday evening in an ambush by civilian resistance fighters in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region, according to the Yaw Defense Force (YDF).
YDF said that its members ambushed a military convoy of 50 vehicles, including armored cars, with 14 landmines while it was travelling on the Gangaw-Pale Highway. Over 40 soldiers were killed, 30 injured and five vehicles and an armored car were damaged in the attack.
However, The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the regime casualties independently.
A statement by the YDF said that its civilian resistance fighters were able to escape the scene, despite junta forces randomly opening fire with automatic weapons and grenades.
YDF has urged people to avoid using the Gangaw-Kale and Gangaw-Htilin highways due to the potential of being caught in the crossfire between junta troops and local people’s defense forces (PDF’s).
Another military convoy of around 18 vehicles was also ambushed on Tuesday evening on the Gangaw-Kale Highway. The convoy was travelling from Kale Township in Sagaing Region to Gangaw.
A civilian resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy that two vehicles were damaged in the landmine attack and that the military suffered some casualties.
One of the military regime’s most notorious commanders, Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police and the junta’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister, has now been assigned to take charge of operations against PDF’s in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State, according to a former army captain who defected from the military after the February 1 coup.
Almost 1,100 junta troops have been killed in those areas in the last three months alone. The Myanmar military has also sent 3,000 reinforcements to Sagaing, Magwe and Chin.
Since the second week of September, internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime in most townships in the regions and states where PDFs are most active. Junta forces have used heavy explosives, jet fighters and helicopters in the clashes with civilian resistance fighters, as well as burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
As of Tuesday, 1,158 people have been slain since the coup by regime forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Another 8,756 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
Over 40 Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Ambush
The military convoy was attacked with landmines in Gangaw on Tuesday evening as civilian resistance forces step up their operations against the regime.
www.irrawaddy.com
Malaysia’s Foreign Minister issued a warning to Myanmar’s ruling generals that his country is ready to hold talks with Myanmar’s shadow government, if the junta continues to fail to cooperate with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy to Myanmar to solve the crisis sparked by the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup.
Saifuddin Abdullah told the lower house of the Malaysian Parliament on Wednesday that Malaysia is considering holding dialogue with the National Unity Government (NUG) if the military regime does not cooperate with the five-point consensus agreed upon by ASEAN to resolve the crisis, according to a local news agency Bernama.
ASEAN member Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the coup, which was followed by lethal and brutal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The international community had pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and ASEAN has appointed a special envoy who the junta has agreed to cooperate with, the one point of the five-point consensus that the junta has agreed to follow.
If Malaysia does meet with the NUG, it would be the first ASEAN country to hold official talks with Myanmar’s parallel government, which was formed by elected lawmakers from the ousted NLD.
That would be a huge blow to the junta, which has desperately been seeking official recognition from other countries, especially those in ASEAN, as Myanmar’s rightful government.
On Monday, the Malaysian Foreign Minister said that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing could be excluded from a regional summit scheduled for later this month over the junta’s failure to cooperate with ASEAN’s efforts.
He voiced his frustrations after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Monday, when he was informed that Naypyitaw was still not cooperating with the terms of the consensus.
In particular, the regime is blocking the proposed visit to Myanmar by ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof, who is seeking to meet all stakeholders in the crisis, including detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the ASEAN envoy in August.
However, so far Yusof has only been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources in Myanmar said.
Following the tussle, the special envoy said on Wednesday that the bloc was “deep in discussions” about not inviting junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to the summit on October 26-28, after the issue was raised by the Malaysian Foreign Minister and others.
“Up until today there has been no progress on the implementation of the five-point consensus, and this has raised a concern,” he said, according to Reuters.
Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing is very keen to attend the upcoming ASEAN summit, according to diplomats in Yangon, seeing it as a way of demonstrating the junta’s legitimacy and as a sign of ASEAN’s ‘acceptance’ of his dictatorship.
On Tuesday in Europe, the French senate voted unanimously to recognize the NUG. If the French parliament’s lower house approves the vote, France will become the first country to officially recognize Myanmar’s shadow government.
On the same day, the United States introduced the Burma Act, which aims to put more pressure on the junta by imposing sanctions on individuals and entities who helped stage the coup and who are responsible for the subsequent repression.
The new authorization calls for Washington to pressure the United Nations to take more decisive action on Myanmar, as well as to make a genocide determination over the persecution of the Rohingya ethnic minority, while supporting civil society organizations and allowing for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and the surrounding region.
In the meantime, Myanmar is rapidly sliding towards becoming a failed state, with the country in chaos and the military regime unable to control many regions as armed civilian resistance to the junta intensifies.
Malaysia to Talk to Myanmar’s Parallel Govt if Junta Fails to Cooperate With ASEAN
With the junta refusing to cooperate with ASEAN, Malaysia’s foreign minister says his country is considering holding talks with the National Unity Government.
www.irrawaddy.com
Civilian resistance fighters clashed with around 100 junta troops on Wednesday in Mingin Township, Sagaing Region, according to the township People’s Defense Force (PDF).
The clash followed regime raids on five villages in Mingin on Tuesday. Heavy rain forced the Mingin-PDF to wait until Wednesday before confronting the junta soldiers, said the leader of the Mingin-PDF.
“We were waiting [on Tuesday] because we knew that they were coming. They came and raided villages. But it rained and we only have traditional hunting rifles that don’t work in the rain,” he said.
Wednesday’s fighting lasted for around 45 minutes and one civilian resistance fighter was injured by junta shelling, added the Mingin-PDF commander.
“We were upset when we saw the damage they [junta forces] had done to those villages, and we decided to chase and fight them at the risk of our lives,” said a Mingin-PDF fighter.
Over 3,000 people were forced to flee their villages following the junta raids on Tuesday.
Since September, the military regime has brought in troop reinforcements and extra weapons to Sagaing Region, launching attacks on areas where civilian armed resistance is strong.
Junta soldiers have raided villages in several Sagaing townships including Kani, Yinmabin, Pale, Myaung, Tabayin, Taze and Mingin. Civilians have been killed or detained, and many houses looted and burned down during the raids.
Dozens of regime troops have reportedly been killed in ambushes and mine attacks carried out by local PDF’s.
Myanmar Junta Troops Clash With Civilian Resistance Fighters
Regime raids on villages in Sagaing Region sparked fighting with local People’s Defense Force.
www.irrawaddy.com
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The head of one of the Myanmar military’s regional commands has been detained and interrogated by the military regime after his plan to defect and take refuge in an area controlled by an ethnic armed group was exposed, according to sources close to the matter.
Brigadier-General Phyo Thant, the commander of the military’s North West
Command, which has responsibility for areas that are strongholds of resistance to the Myanmar regime, is the highest-ranking regime official so far to switch allegiance to the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta, and the most senior officer to be arrested.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the commander, who is in his early 50s, contacted a CDM support group that assists defectors from the military and police, and also reached out to some local resistance forces in his area.
A senior official from an ethnic army said the brigadier general had been planning to join them and that officials from the ethnic armed group and the leader of local civilian resistance forces told him to leave as soon as possible.
“The coast was clear for him to come to us with four or five of his subordinates. But he said he wanted to get more people to join him. Then, the plot was uncovered and he was arrested,” said a senior official from an ethnic armed group.
The brigadier general was apparently detained this week, as he was seen holding meetings with local veterans as recently as Monday in Sagaing Region, one of the areas under his command. He is likely to face serious interrogation, as the regime has zero tolerance for anyone participating in the CDM. Rumors have already circulated that he was tortured to death.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the commander had been under increasing pressure as Sagaing Region and Chin State, which were under his command, had seen deadly and ongoing armed clashes between regime soldiers and local guerrillas known as the People’s Defense Force (PDF) on an almost daily basis. During the fighting, junta soldiers have sustained significant casualties due to landmine attacks and ambushes. To retaliate against the resistance forces, regime troops have raided and torched villages in areas suspected of harboring PDF units, while committing extrajudicial killings.
The ethnic armed group source said Brig-Gen Phyo Thant had also promised to testify that a massacre took place under his command in Sagaing Region, as he feared that his superiors in Naypyitaw would use him as a scapegoat for recent mass killings in the region.
In July, the Myanmar army killed nearly 40 people, including a 14-year-old boy, in Sagaing’s Kanni Township. The bodies were found four days after junta troops entered villages in the area. Some bodies were burned; all were badly bruised and exhibited signs of torture, said residents. The mass killing prompted Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN to alert the world body that a “reported massacre” was committed by the military junta in Sagaing, calling for a global arms embargo on the ruling junta and “urgent humanitarian intervention” from the international community.
In the meantime, Brig-Gen Phyo Thant has been replaced as commander by the notorious Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, chief of the Myanmar Police and the junta’s deputy home affairs minister, who will take charge of operations against the PDF in Sagaing, Chin State and neighboring Magwe Region. Lieutenant General Tay Zar Kyaw from the Bureau of Special Operations is accompanying Lt-Gen Than Hlaing on the new mission. In recent days, locals reported that many reinforcements have been deployed in the area, prompting fears of more serious clearance operations against the PDFs.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing has been sanctioned by the European Union, which said the police chief was “directly responsible for decision making concerning repressive policies and violent actions committed by police against peaceful [anti-regime] demonstrators and is therefore responsible for serious human rights violations in Myanmar/Burma.”
www.irrawaddy.com
Almost 700 junta informants have been killed or wounded since the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup, according to regime-controlled media.
Junta propaganda has accused the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw – founded by ousted National League for Democracy lawmakers – the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and People’s Defense Forces (PDF) of being terrorists responsible for the assassination of 406 people accused of being informants, as well as the wounding of another 285.
But the international community has witnessed the brazen atrocities of the military regime, with prominent international human rights group the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) calling on the United Nations (UN) to declare the junta a “terrorist organization” for its attacks on civilians.
The regime-controlled Myanma Alinn newspaper said on Wednesday that, as well as junta informants being targeted, 116 police stations, 46 police outposts, 28 offices and 58 buildings were damaged in attacks by armed resistance groups across 105 townships between February 1 and September 27. 375 government offices in 183 townships were also burned down during the same period.
The newspaper said that 2,460 bomb attacks were reported in 372 townships, while 340 firefights occurred in 134 townships. Another 349 attacks targeted houses.
Armed resistance to the military regime began in late March, with civilian groups using homemade and traditional firearms to fight back against the junta’s lethal crackdowns and raids on peaceful anti-coup protesters, striking government staff and anyone opposing military rule.
Since then the administration offices of villages, wards and townships have been targeted by civilian resistance groups to prevent the regime from governing the country. Junta-appointed ward and village administrators and informants have also been targeted for collaborating with the regime.
At the same time, detained civilians have been tortured to death while in junta custody.
Opposition to the regime has further intensified since the NUG declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. With the exception of Rakhine State, regions across the country have witnessed a growing number of attacks on junta forces by PDF’s.
The regime has responded by escalating its arrests and raids in the most restive areas, especially Magwe and Sagaing regions and Chin and Kayah states, killing civilians as young as five-years-old, looting and burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
The SAC-M, which is made up of senior former UN experts with long experience of Myanmar, recently urged the UN Security Council to declare the military regime a “terrorist organization” for its atrocities against its own civilians.
As of Wednesday, 1,158 civilians have been slain by junta forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which is compiling deaths and arrests at the hands of the regime.
Another 8,770 people, including democratically-elected government leaders, have been detained or face arrest warrants.
www.irrawaddy.com
Over 100 local administrators in Sagaing, Magwe and Yangon regions have quit working for the military regime in recent weeks, fearing for their lives and the safety of their families amid clashes between Myanmar’s military and civilian resistance fighters.
The resignations follow a spike in attacks, many causing casualties, on junta forces by People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups across the country since the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) declared the start of a people’s defensive war on the regime on Sept. 7.
Since late March, administration offices in villages, wards and townships have been torched and bombed by civilian resistance groups to prevent the regime from governing the country. These local offices are the primary elements of the government administrative system in Myanmar. Junta-appointed ward and village administrators and informants have also been stabbed to death or shot dead at point-blank range for collaborating with the regime.
Twenty ward and village administrators in Yangon’s Kayan Township filed their resignations after the local PDF formed by civilian resistance fighters warned them on Sunday to quit their posts within 15 days. If they failed to do so, they would be regarded as dalan (military informants), the Kayan PDF warned.
All 13 ward administrators and seven of 56 village administrators resigned.
Another village administrator in Kayan Township resigned from his post on Thursday.
In Yesagyo Township of Magwe Region, meanwhile, all eight ward administrators resigned and around 40 village administrators also quit after the local PDF warned them to leave their jobs by Sept. 30 or risk being killed.
On Oct. 1, the Yesagyo PDF shot dead a regime-appointed village administrator after he announced to the village over a loudspeaker that he didn’t care what anyone said and would continue in his post.
In Yenangyaung Township of Magwe Region, all members of the local administration in Ywar Thit Ward reportedly resigned after their head administrator was gunned down by a guerrilla group. U Maung Ko was shot on the morning of Oct. 4 while entering a tea shop. He was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds.
In the resistance stronghold of Sagaing, over 40 ward and village administrators in Katha and Htigyaing townships quit working for the regime in a single day on Monday.
On Tuesday, a ward administrator in Katha Township and a 100-household administrator in a village in Htigyaing Township also sought to resign from their posts, saying they could no longer perform their duties as they were in “poor health”.
The PDFs in Katha and Htigyaing townships have both also warned administrators to stop working for the regime. The Htigyaing PDF announced it had killed 20 military informants.
The commander of the Pale Township PDF in Sagaing Region told The Irrawaddy that the mass resignations from the backbone of the regime’s administrative mechanism were a sign that the people’s movement against the regime was making progress.
“However they attempt to assert control, the resignations of the administrators at the local level have surely weakened the administrative mechanism,” he added.
Almost all ward and village administrators in Pale Township have resigned since July.
Khant Wai Phyo, a protest leader in Monywa, Sagaing Region, shared the view that the collective resignations show the regime’s mechanism is gradually collapsing.
He added that he hoped the resistance groups would continue to push the remaining administrators at the township level to follow in the footsteps of their ward and village-level counterparts and quit their posts.
Following the coup, the ward and village administrators who had been directly elected by residents under the ousted civilian government were replaced with regime-appointed officials as the junta sought to shore up control of the local administrative mechanism and revive neighborhood surveillance networks.
The regime-appointed administrators worked as military informants, providing the regime with information on its opponents to help with arrests and raids, and in several cases, leaving accused civilians dead.
They also forced residents to register any overnight guests staying in their homes in a move designed to make it harder for opponents of the regime to evade arrest.
www.irrawaddy.com
Nearly 1,000 villagers in Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region, have been displaced by fighting between civilian resistance fighters and junta troops, said Dawna Tanintharyi, a humanitarian group helping those left homeless.
Clashes broke out after junta troops raided villages in Taung Pyauk to the east of the Dawei-Myeik road in Dawei District on Sept. 28, detaining civilians and torching houses.
“Nearly 1,000 villagers have fled their homes since the raids. The numbers will increase if the clashes continue. As there are still no camps they have to cope with what they have. We are consulting to set up camps,” said a Dawna member.
Daung Min, a resistance group, confronted regime troops following the raids. It said it clashed with junta troops four times since late September.
People lack food and medicine and junta troops are tightly controlling the roads, making it difficult to supply those displaced.
“They said their food will barely last a week. We have difficulties transporting food to them. They also need medicine,” said the Dawna member.
“More people will be displaced and the problems will increase if clashes continue. [The PDFs and junta troops] should stop fighting until the civilians have escaped. Those displaced need aid and they cannot receive any supplies,” said a resident.
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The European Parliament has voted to support Myanmar’s shadow government and its parliamentary committee as the legitimate representatives of Myanmar, becoming the first international legislative body to officially endorse the organizations behind the fight against military rule in the Southeast Asian country.
The country has been mired in crisis since the military ousted the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government in February, sparking mass protests and a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. After more than eight months, sporadic armed attacks on regime targets and reprisals by junta forces continue.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament said it “supports the CRPH and the NUG as the only legitimate representatives of the democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar,” referring to the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and its parliamentary Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CPRH), both of which were formed by ousted elected NLD lawmakers and their ethnic allies in the wake of the Feb. 1 takeover.
The motion was passed with 647 votes in favor, two against and 31 abstentions.
The EU Parliament’s show of support on Thursday comes as a major embarrassment to the Myanmar military regime, which seeks international recognition as the country’s rightful caretaker government and is struggling against a competing claim by the NUG.
Neither the NUG nor the CRPH were immediately available for comment on Friday.
Since its formation in April, the NUG has enjoyed popular support at home and abroad. It is supporting striking civil servants and resistance forces against the regime inside the country while lobbying for international acceptance as Myanmar’s legitimate government. Despite some unofficial engagements, however, it has yet to receive diplomatic recognition from foreign countries. Early last month, the shadow government called a nationwide revolt against the regime after deciding that diplomatic pressure was no longer strong enough to topple the junta.
The regime has branded the NUG and CRPH as terrorist organizations.
Early this week, the French Senate voted unanimously to recognize the NUG. If the French Parliament’s lower house approves the vote, France will become the first country to officially recognize Myanmar’s shadow government. The support from the EU parliament could be
In its resolution, the European Parliament also condemned the Myanmar military’s violent response to protesters, as well as its human rights violations against the people following the coup, saying “these ongoing abuses and actions amount to crimes against humanity”. As of Thursday, 1,159 people had been killed by the regime while ethnic and religious minorities have also suffered abuses, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and displacements due to the junta’s clearance operations in anti-regime strongholds.
The resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all others arrested by the military on unfounded accusations during and after the coup.
As ASEAN is playing a mediator role in an effort to resolve the Myanmar crisis, the European Parliament called on the regional bloc and its special envoy to Myanmar to engage with all parties involved, notably with the NUG and representatives of civil society. So far, the regime still hasn’t allowed the envoy to visit the country and the regional bloc has voiced disappointment with the junta’s lack of cooperation.
Internationally, the Parliament called on the regime’s allies China and Russia to live up to their responsibility as permanent members of the UN Security Council and said it expects them to play a constructive role when scrutinizing the situation in Myanmar. Both countries have long supported the regime at the council by vetoing critical resolutions by the US, the UK and France.
Finally, it urged EU countries to continue imposing targeted and robust sanctions to cut off the economic lifelines of the junta, as well as demanding member states push ahead with targeted restrictive measures against those responsible for the coup.
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Brigadier-General Phyo Thant, the commander of the military’s North West
Command, which has responsibility for areas that are strongholds of resistance to the Myanmar regime, is the highest-ranking regime official so far to switch allegiance to the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta, and the most senior officer to be arrested.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the commander, who is in his early 50s, contacted a CDM support group that assists defectors from the military and police, and also reached out to some local resistance forces in his area.
A senior official from an ethnic army said the brigadier general had been planning to join them and that officials from the ethnic armed group and the leader of local civilian resistance forces told him to leave as soon as possible.
“The coast was clear for him to come to us with four or five of his subordinates. But he said he wanted to get more people to join him. Then, the plot was uncovered and he was arrested,” said a senior official from an ethnic armed group.
The brigadier general was apparently detained this week, as he was seen holding meetings with local veterans as recently as Monday in Sagaing Region, one of the areas under his command. He is likely to face serious interrogation, as the regime has zero tolerance for anyone participating in the CDM. Rumors have already circulated that he was tortured to death.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the commander had been under increasing pressure as Sagaing Region and Chin State, which were under his command, had seen deadly and ongoing armed clashes between regime soldiers and local guerrillas known as the People’s Defense Force (PDF) on an almost daily basis. During the fighting, junta soldiers have sustained significant casualties due to landmine attacks and ambushes. To retaliate against the resistance forces, regime troops have raided and torched villages in areas suspected of harboring PDF units, while committing extrajudicial killings.
The ethnic armed group source said Brig-Gen Phyo Thant had also promised to testify that a massacre took place under his command in Sagaing Region, as he feared that his superiors in Naypyitaw would use him as a scapegoat for recent mass killings in the region.
In July, the Myanmar army killed nearly 40 people, including a 14-year-old boy, in Sagaing’s Kanni Township. The bodies were found four days after junta troops entered villages in the area. Some bodies were burned; all were badly bruised and exhibited signs of torture, said residents. The mass killing prompted Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN to alert the world body that a “reported massacre” was committed by the military junta in Sagaing, calling for a global arms embargo on the ruling junta and “urgent humanitarian intervention” from the international community.
In the meantime, Brig-Gen Phyo Thant has been replaced as commander by the notorious Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, chief of the Myanmar Police and the junta’s deputy home affairs minister, who will take charge of operations against the PDF in Sagaing, Chin State and neighboring Magwe Region. Lieutenant General Tay Zar Kyaw from the Bureau of Special Operations is accompanying Lt-Gen Than Hlaing on the new mission. In recent days, locals reported that many reinforcements have been deployed in the area, prompting fears of more serious clearance operations against the PDFs.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing has been sanctioned by the European Union, which said the police chief was “directly responsible for decision making concerning repressive policies and violent actions committed by police against peaceful [anti-regime] demonstrators and is therefore responsible for serious human rights violations in Myanmar/Burma.”
Myanmar Military Detains North Western Commander for Planning to Defect: Ethnic Insurgent Sources
Brig-Gen Phyo Thant is the highest-ranking official to break ranks with the regime; he reportedly contacted civilian resistance forces and the CDM before his arrest.
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Almost 700 junta informants have been killed or wounded since the Myanmar military’s February 1 coup, according to regime-controlled media.
Junta propaganda has accused the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw – founded by ousted National League for Democracy lawmakers – the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and People’s Defense Forces (PDF) of being terrorists responsible for the assassination of 406 people accused of being informants, as well as the wounding of another 285.
But the international community has witnessed the brazen atrocities of the military regime, with prominent international human rights group the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) calling on the United Nations (UN) to declare the junta a “terrorist organization” for its attacks on civilians.
The regime-controlled Myanma Alinn newspaper said on Wednesday that, as well as junta informants being targeted, 116 police stations, 46 police outposts, 28 offices and 58 buildings were damaged in attacks by armed resistance groups across 105 townships between February 1 and September 27. 375 government offices in 183 townships were also burned down during the same period.
The newspaper said that 2,460 bomb attacks were reported in 372 townships, while 340 firefights occurred in 134 townships. Another 349 attacks targeted houses.
Armed resistance to the military regime began in late March, with civilian groups using homemade and traditional firearms to fight back against the junta’s lethal crackdowns and raids on peaceful anti-coup protesters, striking government staff and anyone opposing military rule.
Since then the administration offices of villages, wards and townships have been targeted by civilian resistance groups to prevent the regime from governing the country. Junta-appointed ward and village administrators and informants have also been targeted for collaborating with the regime.
At the same time, detained civilians have been tortured to death while in junta custody.
Opposition to the regime has further intensified since the NUG declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. With the exception of Rakhine State, regions across the country have witnessed a growing number of attacks on junta forces by PDF’s.
The regime has responded by escalating its arrests and raids in the most restive areas, especially Magwe and Sagaing regions and Chin and Kayah states, killing civilians as young as five-years-old, looting and burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
The SAC-M, which is made up of senior former UN experts with long experience of Myanmar, recently urged the UN Security Council to declare the military regime a “terrorist organization” for its atrocities against its own civilians.
As of Wednesday, 1,158 civilians have been slain by junta forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which is compiling deaths and arrests at the hands of the regime.
Another 8,770 people, including democratically-elected government leaders, have been detained or face arrest warrants.
Hundreds of Myanmar Junta Informants Killed or Wounded
Regime media reveals sheer scale of armed resistance to military, as junta propaganda claims National Unity Government are terrorists.
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Over 100 local administrators in Sagaing, Magwe and Yangon regions have quit working for the military regime in recent weeks, fearing for their lives and the safety of their families amid clashes between Myanmar’s military and civilian resistance fighters.
The resignations follow a spike in attacks, many causing casualties, on junta forces by People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups across the country since the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) declared the start of a people’s defensive war on the regime on Sept. 7.
Since late March, administration offices in villages, wards and townships have been torched and bombed by civilian resistance groups to prevent the regime from governing the country. These local offices are the primary elements of the government administrative system in Myanmar. Junta-appointed ward and village administrators and informants have also been stabbed to death or shot dead at point-blank range for collaborating with the regime.
Twenty ward and village administrators in Yangon’s Kayan Township filed their resignations after the local PDF formed by civilian resistance fighters warned them on Sunday to quit their posts within 15 days. If they failed to do so, they would be regarded as dalan (military informants), the Kayan PDF warned.
All 13 ward administrators and seven of 56 village administrators resigned.
Another village administrator in Kayan Township resigned from his post on Thursday.
In Yesagyo Township of Magwe Region, meanwhile, all eight ward administrators resigned and around 40 village administrators also quit after the local PDF warned them to leave their jobs by Sept. 30 or risk being killed.
On Oct. 1, the Yesagyo PDF shot dead a regime-appointed village administrator after he announced to the village over a loudspeaker that he didn’t care what anyone said and would continue in his post.
In Yenangyaung Township of Magwe Region, all members of the local administration in Ywar Thit Ward reportedly resigned after their head administrator was gunned down by a guerrilla group. U Maung Ko was shot on the morning of Oct. 4 while entering a tea shop. He was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds.
In the resistance stronghold of Sagaing, over 40 ward and village administrators in Katha and Htigyaing townships quit working for the regime in a single day on Monday.
On Tuesday, a ward administrator in Katha Township and a 100-household administrator in a village in Htigyaing Township also sought to resign from their posts, saying they could no longer perform their duties as they were in “poor health”.
The PDFs in Katha and Htigyaing townships have both also warned administrators to stop working for the regime. The Htigyaing PDF announced it had killed 20 military informants.
The commander of the Pale Township PDF in Sagaing Region told The Irrawaddy that the mass resignations from the backbone of the regime’s administrative mechanism were a sign that the people’s movement against the regime was making progress.
“However they attempt to assert control, the resignations of the administrators at the local level have surely weakened the administrative mechanism,” he added.
Almost all ward and village administrators in Pale Township have resigned since July.
Khant Wai Phyo, a protest leader in Monywa, Sagaing Region, shared the view that the collective resignations show the regime’s mechanism is gradually collapsing.
He added that he hoped the resistance groups would continue to push the remaining administrators at the township level to follow in the footsteps of their ward and village-level counterparts and quit their posts.
Following the coup, the ward and village administrators who had been directly elected by residents under the ousted civilian government were replaced with regime-appointed officials as the junta sought to shore up control of the local administrative mechanism and revive neighborhood surveillance networks.
The regime-appointed administrators worked as military informants, providing the regime with information on its opponents to help with arrests and raids, and in several cases, leaving accused civilians dead.
They also forced residents to register any overnight guests staying in their homes in a move designed to make it harder for opponents of the regime to evade arrest.
Local Myanmar Officials Quit in Droves Following Threats From Anti-Junta Groups
Over 100 ward and village administrators have resigned in recent weeks as People’s Defense Force groups increasingly target the regime’s local administration network.
www.irrawaddy.com
Nearly 1,000 villagers in Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region, have been displaced by fighting between civilian resistance fighters and junta troops, said Dawna Tanintharyi, a humanitarian group helping those left homeless.
Clashes broke out after junta troops raided villages in Taung Pyauk to the east of the Dawei-Myeik road in Dawei District on Sept. 28, detaining civilians and torching houses.
“Nearly 1,000 villagers have fled their homes since the raids. The numbers will increase if the clashes continue. As there are still no camps they have to cope with what they have. We are consulting to set up camps,” said a Dawna member.
Daung Min, a resistance group, confronted regime troops following the raids. It said it clashed with junta troops four times since late September.
People lack food and medicine and junta troops are tightly controlling the roads, making it difficult to supply those displaced.
“They said their food will barely last a week. We have difficulties transporting food to them. They also need medicine,” said the Dawna member.
“More people will be displaced and the problems will increase if clashes continue. [The PDFs and junta troops] should stop fighting until the civilians have escaped. Those displaced need aid and they cannot receive any supplies,” said a resident.
Tanintharyi Villagers Flee Fighting Between Resistance and Myanmar Junta
Regime raids on villages in southern Myanmar have sparked firefights with civilian resistance fighters.
www.irrawaddy.com
The European Parliament has voted to support Myanmar’s shadow government and its parliamentary committee as the legitimate representatives of Myanmar, becoming the first international legislative body to officially endorse the organizations behind the fight against military rule in the Southeast Asian country.
The country has been mired in crisis since the military ousted the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government in February, sparking mass protests and a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. After more than eight months, sporadic armed attacks on regime targets and reprisals by junta forces continue.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament said it “supports the CRPH and the NUG as the only legitimate representatives of the democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar,” referring to the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and its parliamentary Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CPRH), both of which were formed by ousted elected NLD lawmakers and their ethnic allies in the wake of the Feb. 1 takeover.
The motion was passed with 647 votes in favor, two against and 31 abstentions.
The EU Parliament’s show of support on Thursday comes as a major embarrassment to the Myanmar military regime, which seeks international recognition as the country’s rightful caretaker government and is struggling against a competing claim by the NUG.
Neither the NUG nor the CRPH were immediately available for comment on Friday.
Since its formation in April, the NUG has enjoyed popular support at home and abroad. It is supporting striking civil servants and resistance forces against the regime inside the country while lobbying for international acceptance as Myanmar’s legitimate government. Despite some unofficial engagements, however, it has yet to receive diplomatic recognition from foreign countries. Early last month, the shadow government called a nationwide revolt against the regime after deciding that diplomatic pressure was no longer strong enough to topple the junta.
The regime has branded the NUG and CRPH as terrorist organizations.
Early this week, the French Senate voted unanimously to recognize the NUG. If the French Parliament’s lower house approves the vote, France will become the first country to officially recognize Myanmar’s shadow government. The support from the EU parliament could be
In its resolution, the European Parliament also condemned the Myanmar military’s violent response to protesters, as well as its human rights violations against the people following the coup, saying “these ongoing abuses and actions amount to crimes against humanity”. As of Thursday, 1,159 people had been killed by the regime while ethnic and religious minorities have also suffered abuses, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and displacements due to the junta’s clearance operations in anti-regime strongholds.
The resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all others arrested by the military on unfounded accusations during and after the coup.
As ASEAN is playing a mediator role in an effort to resolve the Myanmar crisis, the European Parliament called on the regional bloc and its special envoy to Myanmar to engage with all parties involved, notably with the NUG and representatives of civil society. So far, the regime still hasn’t allowed the envoy to visit the country and the regional bloc has voiced disappointment with the junta’s lack of cooperation.
Internationally, the Parliament called on the regime’s allies China and Russia to live up to their responsibility as permanent members of the UN Security Council and said it expects them to play a constructive role when scrutinizing the situation in Myanmar. Both countries have long supported the regime at the council by vetoing critical resolutions by the US, the UK and France.
Finally, it urged EU countries to continue imposing targeted and robust sanctions to cut off the economic lifelines of the junta, as well as demanding member states push ahead with targeted restrictive measures against those responsible for the coup.
European Parliament Throws Support Behind Myanmar’s Shadow Government
The body adopted a resolution backing the National Unity Government and CRPH as the ‘legitimate representatives of the people of Myanmar’.
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The Myanmar military has deployed at least four battalions of reinforcements – around 3,000 soldiers – to the country’s most restive regions to conduct clearance operations against civilian resistance forces, according to local civilian armed groups and a source close to the military.
In addition, one of the junta’s most notorious commanders – Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police and the regime’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister – has also been assigned to the military’s North West Command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region.
Sagaing, along with neighboring Magwe Region and Chin State, is where junta forces are facing the fiercest opposition from civilian resistance forces.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing, along with another Lieutenant General, will lead the military’s operations against local People’s Defense Forces (PDF), a former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy.
Brigadier General Phyo Thant, the former commander of North West Command, was reportedly detained by the military regime earlier this week, after his plan to defect and take refuge in an area controlled by an ethnic armed group was exposed, according to a source close to the military.
Rumors are already circulating that the Brig-Gen was tortured to death during his interrogation.
The new mission comes after the equivalent of two infantry battalions of junta soldiers have been killed in Sagaing, Magwe and Chin State in the last four months alone. Between June and September, 1,512 regime troops died in fighting with civilian resistance forces in those areas, according to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing has earned notoriety for commanding lethal crackdowns against peaceful anti-coup protesters and striking civil servants.
One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing’s younger brother Ko Soe Moe Hlaing, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region.
An estimated 1,000 junta reinforcements were deployed last week to Shwe Taung Oo, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a leader of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy.
Another 100 junta troops deployed four days ago at a monastery near the border with Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region. Residents from nearby villages have fled their homes out of fear at the presence of regime troops. The soldiers are believed to be preparing to raid Kani Township, added the Kani-PDF leader.
“We have already planned for potential fierce fighting with the regime. We youths are prepared to die in battle as we can’t live under military dictatorship anymore,” the Kani-PDF fighter told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
Although there have been no clashes in recent days, junta forces are still raiding throughout Sagaing and Magwe.
On Friday morning, 100 regime troops searching the forest in Magwe’s Gangaw Township for resistance fighters opened fire randomly, a leader of the Yaw Defense Force (YDF) told The Irrawaddy.
Some 500 junta reinforcements have deployed to Gangaw and hundreds of them are searching villages in the north of the township for PDF’s. Helicopters are reportedly supplying them with heavy weapons and ammunition.
On Thursday, junta troops used 15 detained villagers as human shields while marching through the north of Gangaw Township, a result of regime soldiers being ambushed with landmines so often.
Over 40 soldiers were killed on Tuesday, and 30 injured and five vehicles and an armored car damaged, when the YDF ambushed a military convoy of 50 vehicles travelling from Monywa via the Pale-Gangaw Highway.
A video shows the convoy being attacked with landmines detonated by YDF fighters.
“We will respond as best we can if they [junta forces] raid us,” said the leader of the YDF.
Kale-PDF claimed to have killed 12 junta soldiers with landmines on Thursday in two ambushes targeting a regime convoy travelling on the Kale-Gangaw Highway in Sagaing Region.
On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements from Monywa to Pale Township in Sagaing Region.
Some 500 regime reinforcements have also arrived in Pinlebu Township, Sagaing Region since late September, after junta forces suffered almost 40 casualties in two intense firefights with the local PDF.
Around 300 troops have been deployed in rural areas of the township and over 9,000 residents of 10 villages have fled their homes due to junta raids, the spokesperson of the Pinlebu-PDF told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
The Pinlebu-PDF said it is concerned about the prospect of villagers being caught in the crossfire in clashes between civilian resistance fighters and junta forces.
Internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime since the second week of September in most townships in the areas where PDF’s are most active.
Junta forces have used heavy explosives, jet fighters and helicopters in the clashes with civilian resistance fighters, as well as burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
www.irrawaddy.com
The armed opposition to Myanmar’s military junta has inflicted an increasing number of casualties on regime troops and knocked out more than 120 army-owned telecom towers in the past month, sources in the opposition told RFA.
For more than eight months, Myanmar civilians have rejected the Feb. 1 military takeover and have waged armed resistance, with more than 340 People’s Defense Forces (PDF) militias fighting junta troops across the country, analysts said.
The number of armed clashes across Myanmar between PDF fighters and junta soldiers in September more than doubled from the previous month, reaching 132 incidents of conflict, the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) said in a statement issued on Thursday.
More than 1,560 junta soldiers have been killed and 552 others have been injured in the month since the NUG called for an armed uprising on Sept. 7, citing months of military oppression after the military deposed the elected government in a coup, the statement said.
The statement did not provide the death toll or number of causalities among PDF fighters.
The junta has violently repressed anti-coup protests, killing at least 1,160 people and arresting 8,817 others, according to the latest figures issued by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Bangkok-based rights group.
Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun rejected the NUG’s count of dead and wounded a forces, saying the military has not suffered as much as the shadow government claims.
“If we had suffered as many casualties as they claim, there wouldn’t be anyone to rule the country,” he said.
Fighting in Sagaing region
Most of the fighting over the past month took place in the northwestern region of Sagaing, according to the NUG.
Boh Nagar, an official from Sagaing’s Pale township PDF, said the attacks were fueled by the military’s brutality toward civilians.
“Realizing the need to take up arms against the oppressive military, Sagaing region has opted for an armed struggle and resisted fiercely,” he told RFA. “More and more troops have been deployed to subdue the resistance, but the military has not been successful so far.”
Though local militias had only Tumee hunting rifles to defend themselves, they were able to fight off the better-armed soldiers, he added.
Local militias also had the advantage of being familiar with Sagaing’s mountainous areas and dense forests, as well as support and assistance from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mount a forceful attack against junta soldiers, analysts said.
On Thursday evening, the Kalay PDF in Sagaing attacked junta troops searching for mines on the road near the town’s Technological University. Four soldiers from a convoy of five military vehicles on the road between Htauk Kyant and Thayargon villages south of Kalay were killed by landmines in the attack, the local PDF said.
The seven bombings that occurred on Sept. 7 were the most attacks in one day, with the number of explosions falling by mid-month but rising again in early October, he added.
Telecom towers destroyed
Along with combat, anti-junta forces have damaged or destroyed 120 telecom towers owned by the military-run Mytel telecom company in the past 30 days, according to an RFA tally, with engineers estimating the loss at 20 billion kyats (U.S. $10.3 million). Seven other towers that were hit belonged to other telecom operators.
The towers — in Magway, Sagaing, Mandalay, Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon regions, and in Kachin, Mon, Chin, and Shan states — were struck between Sept. 4 and Oct 7.
An official with the Mandalay region PDF, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the attacks were in retaliation for the military’s extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate arrests and torture of pro-democracy civilians.
“Mytel makes money that benefits the military, and the latter buys weapons with that money, so if we attack Mytel, we would block the flow of money,” he told RFA.
“Following the blasts, the army has now set up minefields near the Mytel towers.”
An engineer who works with telecom towers told RFA on condition of anonymity that each structure costs 150 million-250 million kyats (U.S. $77,000-$129,000).
“The cost will vary depending on the type of equipment used,” he said.
The military last month announced that it would investigate and prosecute those responsible for the bombings.
A resident in Sagaing’s pale township, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said the military had taken security measures near the towers and warned residents not to go near them.
“The security guards did not stay full-time,” he said. “They came around sunset, walked around, and fired a few shots and left. They told people nearby not to go near the towers.”
“I think they are not here anymore because they set up some landmines,” he added.
Warnings to workers
A tower construction engineer said that the telecom tower staff had been warned by Mytel to notify authorities if they need to do any work on the towers and that security would be provided.
On Sept. 24, a company employee who was repairing a telephone tower in Muse township in northern Shan state was hit by a landmine and suffered serious leg injuries, according to locals.
In Magway’s Yesagyo township, three employees who were refueling a generator at a Mytel tower on Oct. 7 stepped on a mine, and one of them lost his legs, locals said.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said no significant action has been taken at the tower sites.
“There was fencing around the towers in the past,” he said. “Now there may be a need to rebuild the fences in some unsafe areas. There is no reason to do anything special. Any tower, whether it is owned by Mytel or another company, serves the country’s communications.”
The military has cut off internet access to more than 3 million people in 26 townships across Myanmar following the attacks on the telecom towers.
A woman in the Mandalay town of Myingyan, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the army was expanding its forces to crack down on local defense forces in areas where towers were destroyed.
“As more towers were blown up, the military has expanded its presence,” she said.
“Troops were stationed at the entrances and exits of the towns, at intersections, at schools, two or three miles apart,” she said. “Military outposts can be seen deployed between every two or three villages. Internet access has been cut off, causing more problems for people in towns.”
In September, foreign embassies operating in Myanmar issued a statement expressing concern about the internet service shutoffs.
The junta said on Sept. 25 that the service suspension was in response to the destructive work of terrorist groups linked to the NUG, PDFs, and the People’s Defense Army.
www.rfa.org
GENEVA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office said on Friday it is concerned the military in Myanmar could be preparing an imminent attack aimed at its opponents amid a build-up of heavy weapons and troops in areas of the country where the internet has also been shut down.
Ravina Shamdasani, U.N. human rights spokeswoman, said that it had documented intensifying attacks by the army in the past month in Chin state and other areas, with killings and burning of houses, in an apparent attempt to seek out armed resistance.
"What has happened now over the past few days, we have seen a real reinforcement, a substantial deployment of heavy weapons and troops in these areas," Shamdasani told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, referring to townships in Chin, Sagaing and Magway.
The violence and build-up have led to the office of U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet becoming "very alarmed and concerned that there may be an imminent attack, a very serious attack against the civilian population".
Two high-level commanders have been deployed to the area, she said.
A spokesperson for the junta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a Feb. 1 coup led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing that ended a decade of tentative democracy. The return of military rule has prompted outrage at home and abroad.
Shamdasani urged influential countries to act to prevent further serious human rights violations. She cited estimates from local organisations that 1,120 people have been killed in a crackdown by security forces on pro-democracy strikes and protests since February.
The junta says that estimate is exaggerated and members of its security forces have also been killed.
www.reuters.com
In addition, one of the junta’s most notorious commanders – Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police and the regime’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister – has also been assigned to the military’s North West Command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region.
Sagaing, along with neighboring Magwe Region and Chin State, is where junta forces are facing the fiercest opposition from civilian resistance forces.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing, along with another Lieutenant General, will lead the military’s operations against local People’s Defense Forces (PDF), a former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy.
Brigadier General Phyo Thant, the former commander of North West Command, was reportedly detained by the military regime earlier this week, after his plan to defect and take refuge in an area controlled by an ethnic armed group was exposed, according to a source close to the military.
Rumors are already circulating that the Brig-Gen was tortured to death during his interrogation.
The new mission comes after the equivalent of two infantry battalions of junta soldiers have been killed in Sagaing, Magwe and Chin State in the last four months alone. Between June and September, 1,512 regime troops died in fighting with civilian resistance forces in those areas, according to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government.
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing has earned notoriety for commanding lethal crackdowns against peaceful anti-coup protesters and striking civil servants.
One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing’s younger brother Ko Soe Moe Hlaing, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region.
An estimated 1,000 junta reinforcements were deployed last week to Shwe Taung Oo, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a leader of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy.
Another 100 junta troops deployed four days ago at a monastery near the border with Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region. Residents from nearby villages have fled their homes out of fear at the presence of regime troops. The soldiers are believed to be preparing to raid Kani Township, added the Kani-PDF leader.
“We have already planned for potential fierce fighting with the regime. We youths are prepared to die in battle as we can’t live under military dictatorship anymore,” the Kani-PDF fighter told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
Although there have been no clashes in recent days, junta forces are still raiding throughout Sagaing and Magwe.
On Friday morning, 100 regime troops searching the forest in Magwe’s Gangaw Township for resistance fighters opened fire randomly, a leader of the Yaw Defense Force (YDF) told The Irrawaddy.
Some 500 junta reinforcements have deployed to Gangaw and hundreds of them are searching villages in the north of the township for PDF’s. Helicopters are reportedly supplying them with heavy weapons and ammunition.
On Thursday, junta troops used 15 detained villagers as human shields while marching through the north of Gangaw Township, a result of regime soldiers being ambushed with landmines so often.
Over 40 soldiers were killed on Tuesday, and 30 injured and five vehicles and an armored car damaged, when the YDF ambushed a military convoy of 50 vehicles travelling from Monywa via the Pale-Gangaw Highway.
A video shows the convoy being attacked with landmines detonated by YDF fighters.
“We will respond as best we can if they [junta forces] raid us,” said the leader of the YDF.
Kale-PDF claimed to have killed 12 junta soldiers with landmines on Thursday in two ambushes targeting a regime convoy travelling on the Kale-Gangaw Highway in Sagaing Region.
On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements from Monywa to Pale Township in Sagaing Region.
Some 500 regime reinforcements have also arrived in Pinlebu Township, Sagaing Region since late September, after junta forces suffered almost 40 casualties in two intense firefights with the local PDF.
Around 300 troops have been deployed in rural areas of the township and over 9,000 residents of 10 villages have fled their homes due to junta raids, the spokesperson of the Pinlebu-PDF told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
The Pinlebu-PDF said it is concerned about the prospect of villagers being caught in the crossfire in clashes between civilian resistance fighters and junta forces.
Internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime since the second week of September in most townships in the areas where PDF’s are most active.
Junta forces have used heavy explosives, jet fighters and helicopters in the clashes with civilian resistance fighters, as well as burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.
Junta Deploys Thousands of Reinforcements to Upper Myanmar For Clearance Operations
3,000 regime soldiers have been sent to the most restive regions of the country to attack civilian resistance fighters.
www.irrawaddy.com
The armed opposition to Myanmar’s military junta has inflicted an increasing number of casualties on regime troops and knocked out more than 120 army-owned telecom towers in the past month, sources in the opposition told RFA.
For more than eight months, Myanmar civilians have rejected the Feb. 1 military takeover and have waged armed resistance, with more than 340 People’s Defense Forces (PDF) militias fighting junta troops across the country, analysts said.
The number of armed clashes across Myanmar between PDF fighters and junta soldiers in September more than doubled from the previous month, reaching 132 incidents of conflict, the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) said in a statement issued on Thursday.
More than 1,560 junta soldiers have been killed and 552 others have been injured in the month since the NUG called for an armed uprising on Sept. 7, citing months of military oppression after the military deposed the elected government in a coup, the statement said.
The statement did not provide the death toll or number of causalities among PDF fighters.
The junta has violently repressed anti-coup protests, killing at least 1,160 people and arresting 8,817 others, according to the latest figures issued by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Bangkok-based rights group.
Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun rejected the NUG’s count of dead and wounded a forces, saying the military has not suffered as much as the shadow government claims.
“If we had suffered as many casualties as they claim, there wouldn’t be anyone to rule the country,” he said.
Fighting in Sagaing region
Most of the fighting over the past month took place in the northwestern region of Sagaing, according to the NUG.
Boh Nagar, an official from Sagaing’s Pale township PDF, said the attacks were fueled by the military’s brutality toward civilians.
“Realizing the need to take up arms against the oppressive military, Sagaing region has opted for an armed struggle and resisted fiercely,” he told RFA. “More and more troops have been deployed to subdue the resistance, but the military has not been successful so far.”
Though local militias had only Tumee hunting rifles to defend themselves, they were able to fight off the better-armed soldiers, he added.
Local militias also had the advantage of being familiar with Sagaing’s mountainous areas and dense forests, as well as support and assistance from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mount a forceful attack against junta soldiers, analysts said.
On Thursday evening, the Kalay PDF in Sagaing attacked junta troops searching for mines on the road near the town’s Technological University. Four soldiers from a convoy of five military vehicles on the road between Htauk Kyant and Thayargon villages south of Kalay were killed by landmines in the attack, the local PDF said.
The seven bombings that occurred on Sept. 7 were the most attacks in one day, with the number of explosions falling by mid-month but rising again in early October, he added.
Telecom towers destroyed
Along with combat, anti-junta forces have damaged or destroyed 120 telecom towers owned by the military-run Mytel telecom company in the past 30 days, according to an RFA tally, with engineers estimating the loss at 20 billion kyats (U.S. $10.3 million). Seven other towers that were hit belonged to other telecom operators.
The towers — in Magway, Sagaing, Mandalay, Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon regions, and in Kachin, Mon, Chin, and Shan states — were struck between Sept. 4 and Oct 7.
An official with the Mandalay region PDF, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the attacks were in retaliation for the military’s extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate arrests and torture of pro-democracy civilians.
“Mytel makes money that benefits the military, and the latter buys weapons with that money, so if we attack Mytel, we would block the flow of money,” he told RFA.
“Following the blasts, the army has now set up minefields near the Mytel towers.”
An engineer who works with telecom towers told RFA on condition of anonymity that each structure costs 150 million-250 million kyats (U.S. $77,000-$129,000).
“The cost will vary depending on the type of equipment used,” he said.
The military last month announced that it would investigate and prosecute those responsible for the bombings.
A resident in Sagaing’s pale township, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said the military had taken security measures near the towers and warned residents not to go near them.
“The security guards did not stay full-time,” he said. “They came around sunset, walked around, and fired a few shots and left. They told people nearby not to go near the towers.”
“I think they are not here anymore because they set up some landmines,” he added.
Warnings to workers
A tower construction engineer said that the telecom tower staff had been warned by Mytel to notify authorities if they need to do any work on the towers and that security would be provided.
On Sept. 24, a company employee who was repairing a telephone tower in Muse township in northern Shan state was hit by a landmine and suffered serious leg injuries, according to locals.
In Magway’s Yesagyo township, three employees who were refueling a generator at a Mytel tower on Oct. 7 stepped on a mine, and one of them lost his legs, locals said.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said no significant action has been taken at the tower sites.
“There was fencing around the towers in the past,” he said. “Now there may be a need to rebuild the fences in some unsafe areas. There is no reason to do anything special. Any tower, whether it is owned by Mytel or another company, serves the country’s communications.”
The military has cut off internet access to more than 3 million people in 26 townships across Myanmar following the attacks on the telecom towers.
A woman in the Mandalay town of Myingyan, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the army was expanding its forces to crack down on local defense forces in areas where towers were destroyed.
“As more towers were blown up, the military has expanded its presence,” she said.
“Troops were stationed at the entrances and exits of the towns, at intersections, at schools, two or three miles apart,” she said. “Military outposts can be seen deployed between every two or three villages. Internet access has been cut off, causing more problems for people in towns.”
In September, foreign embassies operating in Myanmar issued a statement expressing concern about the internet service shutoffs.
The junta said on Sept. 25 that the service suspension was in response to the destructive work of terrorist groups linked to the NUG, PDFs, and the People’s Defense Army.
Myanmar Resistance Claims Rising Junta Casualties, Destruction of Telecom Towers
People’s Defense Forces across the country have stepped up their war against the junta and blown up army-owned telecom infrastructure.
GENEVA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office said on Friday it is concerned the military in Myanmar could be preparing an imminent attack aimed at its opponents amid a build-up of heavy weapons and troops in areas of the country where the internet has also been shut down.
Ravina Shamdasani, U.N. human rights spokeswoman, said that it had documented intensifying attacks by the army in the past month in Chin state and other areas, with killings and burning of houses, in an apparent attempt to seek out armed resistance.
"What has happened now over the past few days, we have seen a real reinforcement, a substantial deployment of heavy weapons and troops in these areas," Shamdasani told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, referring to townships in Chin, Sagaing and Magway.
The violence and build-up have led to the office of U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet becoming "very alarmed and concerned that there may be an imminent attack, a very serious attack against the civilian population".
Two high-level commanders have been deployed to the area, she said.
A spokesperson for the junta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a Feb. 1 coup led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing that ended a decade of tentative democracy. The return of military rule has prompted outrage at home and abroad.
Shamdasani urged influential countries to act to prevent further serious human rights violations. She cited estimates from local organisations that 1,120 people have been killed in a crackdown by security forces on pro-democracy strikes and protests since February.
The junta says that estimate is exaggerated and members of its security forces have also been killed.
U.N. fears 'imminent attack' in Myanmar after army build-up
The United Nations human rights office said on Friday it is concerned the military in Myanmar could be preparing an imminent attack aimed at its opponents amid a build-up of heavy weapons and troops in areas of the country where the internet has also been shut down.
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