Burma coup resistance notes April 22, 2023
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Burma coup resistance notes April 22, 2023
Junta air terror kills 60 of its own troops; resistance goes after air force; China steps up its interference in support of the illegal Naypyitaw regime.
Air terror-------------------
Revolution forces continue to target the murderous junta air force. On the night of April 16 large explosions rocked the junta’s main air base in Naypyitaw. Karen and Naypyitaw PDF forces had fired four 107mm missiles into the base, setting two aviation fuel reservoirs ablaze. The junta scrambled its jets there into the air to protect them. (Khit Thit Media 4/17) Fuel is one of the main choke points of that democratic forces can use to combat the junta’s disastrous air strikes on civilian targets. As the junta’s ground forces shrink, its air force is all it has left.
Then on April 18 another senior air force officer was gunned down near his residence in Thanlyin township of Yangon. Lt. Col. Kyaw Ma Tun, commander of the Mingaladon Air Force Armament Supply Unit, was killed along with a retired army lieutenant colonel and a bodyguard. Another air force lieutenant colonel was killed there on March 31. (Khit Thit Media 4/18)
Junta air force officials are reported to be praying and making sacrifices at altars at the Dandah Oo air base to be protected from the kind of missile attack that struck the Naypyitaw air base on April 16. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 4/22)
Junta air strikes have been killing civilians in Chin State and other regions this week.
NUG interim president Duwa Lashila pleaded once again in the wake of the Paziji massacre for assistance with air defense weapons and to stop the supply of jet fuel to the junta. (Mizzima 4/16)
Ethnic regions-------------------
The Karen army Brigade 6 and Cobra Column repulsed and attack by junta troops dressed up in Karen uniforms in the Myawaddy suburb of Mekanei on April 18-19. They killed 24 of the invaders, wounded 23, and captured a large number of weapons. Two Karen soldiers were killed and 7 wounded. The junta then bombed with mortar fire and aircraft, but made no impact. (Than Lwin Khet News 4/19)
Karen army Brigade 5 had been trying for over a year to starve out and attack the junta’s camp at Mae Wai in Dwelo Township of Mutraw District. On April 9 junta troops finally abandoned the camp; the regime no longer had the resources to maintain it. (Karen Information Center 4/15)
Karen army and PDFs have also been active around Taungoo town in Yetashay township, adjacent to Taw Oo District of Kawthoolei (Thandaunggyi township on Burmese maps). They killed 10 troops out of a column of 70 on April 20. (Khit Thit Media 4/21) A 7-hour battle there on April 4 was only reported this week in which 20 troops were killed.
Karenni defense forces fought for 6 days April 14-19 between Mobye, Loikaw, and Demawso. At least 53 junta troops were killed and dozens of weapons were captured, along with grenades, ammunition, and equipment. Three jets bombed almost every day. (The Irrawaddy 4/21)
Karenni defense forces in Demawso Township intercepted a convoy of food and reinforcements going toward Bawlakhe on April 19, killing 8 of the troops and a truck, and capturing one soldier and a number of weapons. (Kantarawaddy Times 4/20) Another junta convoy was intercepted on April 21 on the Loikaw-Mobye road, but details aren’t available. (People's Spring 4/21)
When junta troops heard that wounded Chin soldiers from the February Mindat-Matupi convoy battle were being treated at a hospital in Wamathu, they went there on Feb. 18 and destroyed the hospital, according to a junta defector. Then an officer ordered that all the hospital equipment be destroyed to eliminate any evidence. The troops destroyed blankets, medical equipment carts, ventilators, emergency oxygen equipment, mirrors, medicine dispensers, and generators. This hospital was relied on by surrounding communities. (Mizzima 4/18)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Not satisfied with murdering 170 people last week in an air strike, the junta invaded Paziji village where it happened on April 19, driving the survivors to flee as refugees and killing two elderly people who couldn’t get away fast enough. (The Irrawaddy 4/20) Then the junta accidently bombed its own convoy there, killing 40 troops. (Khit Thit Media 4/21)
Troops attacked a village PDF clinic in Myaing Township of Magway Region, at Manchekan village. The clinic, built with Japanese funding, treated local residents, and troops kidnapped 30 patients and medics, for the crime of providing and receiving health care. The junta used a helicopter gunship to attack the village clinic. (Myanmar Now 4/19)
Terrorist troops have been marauding in Khin Oo and Ye Oo townships this week, looting and burning homes and driving 30,000 civilians into the bush to live as refugees. A local PDF tried to mount a defense, but 3 were killed in battle and junta troops caught 2 others and tortured them to death. (The Irrawaddy 4/21)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A coalition of PDFs including those who migrated from Mandalay city, attacked 900 junta troops over a 10-day period in Naung Cho and Pyin Oo Lwin townships of Mandalay Region, April 5-14. The PDFs attacked the junta’s mortar and machine gun emplacements, using their own mortars and rockets. The junta responded with 12 air strikes. Of 75 junta troops killed, 30 were from friendly fire by the junta’s own bombs. (Khit Thit Media 4/15)
In Sagaing Region, a PDF coalition captured a junta military camp at Tawadaing in Kani township, which was thought to house 30 troops, but casualty figures aren’t reported. The PDFs confiscated a large number of weapons. (People's Spring 4/17)
During two days of battle against a Pyu Saw Htee village terrorism squad, PDFs killed 14 of the terrorist, April 13-14. (Khit Thit Media 4/15) A PDF drone-bombed a junta Thinyan party on April 15, killing 12 of the drunken troops. (Myaelatt Athan 4/15)
Mandalay Region PDFs were on the offensive, and received support from the NUG. A PDF in Thabeitjin Township attacked a column ov 70 troops moving through Tagaung April 13-15, killing 10 of them. On April 15 PDFs in Mahlaing Township, not previously a resistance hotbed, attacked a police barracks and clashed with reinforcements, killing 17 troops. In Myinchan Township a PDF carried out a teaser attack on a junta checkpoint at Kyaukkan on April 21, then blew up a de-mining team that responded, killing 12. (Khit Thit Media 4/21)
The National Unity Government delivered several dozen brand-new military rifles to PDFs based around Mogok in Mandalay Region; the hand-over took place April 16. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 4/17)
Troops who came to repair the sabotaged power lines of the junta’s Kappas military equipment factory in Seikphyu Township, Magway Region were attacked with PDF drone bombs yesterday, killing two of them and injuring three. (People's Spring 4/18)
Urban warfare------------------
There were renewed pot-banging noise protests in many Yangon neighborhoods in response to the Paziji air bombing massacre. (People's Spring 4/17) The resistance spirit remains strong in the cities despite the heavy military presence.
The Naypyitaw regime is increasingly unable to keep the lights on in Burma’s cities. Mandalay, for example, is getting 2 to 4 hours of electricity per day, in the late morning. This is hot season, when urban apartments without fans or air conditioners are like ovens. (People’s Spring 4/21)
Recent information leaks reveal that the Naypyitaw junta brought in Iranian special forces from the Al Quds Force as trainers on 3 occasions during 2022. Details of what they did aren’t specified. (Tanintharyi Times 4/22)
It is now reported that two Naypyitaw sergeants with access to sensitive data and computer information fled the junta in February and are still at large. (Myaelatt Athan 4/15) It isn’t known if there is any connection to recent, highly-targeted attacks on air bases.
Political and economic-------------------
Three international alcoholic beverage companies are paying US$150 million in taxes per year to the illegal military regime to support its terror campaign. Heineken, Carlsberg, and Grand Royal continue to do business with the regime, according to the Justice for Myanmar organization that documents foreign support to the junta. (Myanmar Now 4/19)
China is again meddling in the Myanmar civil war on behalf of the illegal Naypyitaw terror regime. It hosted two meetings, one between the Bangladesh government and the junta regarding the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Naypyitaw’s 2017 genocide. Such a repatriation would have to be by force, since the Rohingya refuse to return home until they can have citizenship and guaranteed rights, which the illegal regime refuses to give them. (The Irrawaddy 4/20)
The other meeting was between Chinese Communist Party official Peng Xiubin and two former Burmese dictators, Than Shwe and Thein Sein. They supposedly discussed the current political situation and possible solutions. (Khit Thit Media 4/22) Not included in the discussion was any representative of the Myanmar people, without which such a discussion is meaningless. That is something the autocratic Chinese Communist Party is unlikely to understand.
The junta released 3,000 prisoners for Thingyan holiday amnesty, but most were in prison on drug and robbery charges; almost no political prisoners were released. (Mizzima 4/17)
- စီၤ ထံဆၢ