Burma coup resistance notes April 13, 2024
Karen capture a major border city; another missile attack on a junta air base; deputy dictator hit by drones; junta conscription drives thousands of young people to join resistance forces.
Kawthoolei-------------------
Like the Kachin and the Arakan, the Karen were in a headlong advance against the junta again this week. On April 5 they defeated the last of 3 strategic junta battalion camps outside of Myawaddy, accepting the surrender of 477 junta troops including 67 officers as well as 59 police, and confiscating vehicles, hundreds of rifles, mortars, grenades, howitzers, and other weapons and ammunition.
The same day, fighting moved closer to the city, with the Karen attacking the last junta battalion at the gates of Myawaddy, Battalion 275. On April 6 Battalion 275 raised a white flag and indicated that it wanted to negotiate a surrender. The next day the Naypyitaw junta sent a letter to the Thai military regime requesting permission to run special flights from Mae Sot, the Thai city facing Myawaddy, to Yangon, in order to retrieve defeated junta personnel from Myawaddy. The Thais granted the request, and a special Myanmar junta flight left Mae Sot carrying between 20 and 50 junta administrators (accounts differ) the night of April 7, along with several crates of cash looted from Myawaddy city banks.
Apparently the “surrendering” junta troops insisted on keeping their weapons, and the Karen were having none of that, so the negotiations broke down. The Karen announced that they wouldn’t release junta prisoners to rejoin the war, and that some of them needed to be held for trial for war crimes. A commander who surrendered at Thinganyinaung, for example, ordered the violent suppression of protests while stationed in Kachin State. The Kachin government (KIO) spoke up supporting the Karen government (KNU)’s decision, saying that releasing the prisoners would only encourage more terrorism by the junta. Padoh Saw Tony, spokesman of the KNU, also said it would not force junta personnel to return if they felt safer remaining in Kawthoolei. (People's Spring 4/8)
The Naypyitaw junta then canceled the special flights from Mae Sot, after only one. On April 9 the Karen lost patience with Battalion 275 and began attacking it. The Kawthoolei government complained that the junta had misused the white flag of surrender to buy time, in violation of international war conventions. (People's Spring 4/10)
The Karen took possession of the junta’s tactical command HQ in Myawaddy, where they found more than 1000 bags of rice and other foodstuffs, which they took to distribute to citizens of Dooplaya District displaced by the fighting. They also found many weapons. (Thai PBS 4/7)
Myawaddy residents streamed across the border to escape anticipated fighting. Sure enough, junta aircraft began carrying out strikes on April 9 that caused explosions and fires in the town and its suburbs, destroying the bus station on April 10.
The morning of April 11, Thai media were the first to report the final defeat of holdout Battalion 275, resulting in Karen possession of the border city. Junta troops fled the camp at night, and the Karen forces seized a large number of weapons. (The Reporters 4/11) About 150 surviving troops out of the original 400 massed at the new border bridge, trying to escape into Thailand; they are still stuck at the bridge. Many others were casualties. Karen forces assumed control in the city, but it is a mix of Karen army and BGF, so clear authority remains to be established. (Salween Press 4/13)
As a border commerce hub, Myawaddy generates millions of dollars in customs revenue, which will now go to the Kawthoolei government rather than the junta. That will have to wait, however, until the border fully reopens and trade resumes.
Deputy dictator Soe Win relocated to Mawlamyaing in nearby Mon State to personally direct the defense of Myawaddy. He was twice drone-bombed there, with some reports suggesting he was wounded (see report below).
The liberation of Myawaddy represents a sea change in the civil war, just as Operation 10/27 did in Shan State. Coming 3 days after the drone attacks in Naypyitaw, it means the illegal regime is now just trying to hang on. Unlike the northern ethnic armies, China has no influence with the Karen, and cannot impose another “ceasefire” to drag out the war.
Because the junta habitually destroys cities it loses, the Kawthoolei government urged Myawaddy residents to prepare in case of saturation bombing. But Myawaddy is right on the border, and the Thai air force warned that it won’t hesitate to shoot down Burmese aircraft that violate its airspace. Also, too late, the junta sent a column of 20 to 30 armored vehicles to try to prevent the fall of Myawaddy. To get there it had to pass through Karen-controlled roads, and Karen-led forces are attacking it in the area of Kruh Tu (Kyondo). Four of the armored vehicles reportedly broke down on their own and were abandoned. (Karen Information Center 4/12)
The Karen army captured the last remaining junta camp on the Salween River, which forms the boundary between Kawthoolei and Thailand, on April 11. Brigade 5 chased the junta troops out of the camp, and they fled north with Karen forces in pursuit. (The Reporters Thailand 4/120
Now that it controls multiple towns including a major border city, the Kawthoolei administration (KNU) is transitioning from a shadow government to a multi-functional civil authority. (Khit Thit Media 4/8) Among other roles, the KNU will have border responsibilities such as stamping passports and collecting customs duties, the latter a major revenue source for the new government.
Junta dependents have been moved out of the Battalion 202 camp west of Pa’an city because the battalion has been nearly wiped out during fighting in Arakan State and can no longer occupy its camp. The dependents were moved into a base in the heavily-militarized city. (Hpa-an Times)
Kachin-------------------
On April 8 China accepted 63 remaining junta troops and officers as well as administrators from the Lwejei border town in Kachin State, allowing them to cross the border. That made Lwejei entirely junta-free. (Kachin News Group 4/9) In seizing the junta camp, Kachin forces found millions of kyats in cash that troops had looted from banks in town. (Khit Thit Media 4/10) The new Kachin administration removed the signage at the border crossing that used to read, “Republic of the Union of Myanmar.” They have not put up a replacement yet. (The 74 Media 4/9) This is reminiscent of Rikodar on the Indian border, where the Chin changed the border sign to read “Welcome to Chinland.”
The Kachin army located and captured 29 junta troops who fled from the Sein Lone camp near the Lwejei border town in Momauk Township rather than surrender. Among the 29 was a senior officer. (Kachin News Group 4/6)
On April 9 Kachin-led forces attacked a key checkpoint on the road between the state capital Myitkyina and the jade mining region of Hpakant, defeating 200 junta troops and capturing the station and 30 troops the following night. The checkpoint controls all traffic along that road, and has been the scene of extortion and arbitrary junta kidnapping of travelers. (Khit Thit Media 4/11) Also on April 9, a junta post at Seizin in Hpakant Township surrendered to the Kachin army, giving up all its weapons. (People's Spring 4/9)
Karenni-----------------
A junta reinforcement column sent toward Hpasaung has been completely annihilated by Karenni defense forces. The column left from Loikaw, but was intercepted along the way, losing 16 killed and 15 wounded on March 20. Then on April 11, 58 troops were captured, including commanders, along with their weapons. None of the reinforcements made it to Hpasaung. (People's Spring 4/11, The Irrawaddy 4/12)
Arakan-----------------
The Arakan Army overwhelmed a junta command base in far northern Maungdaw Township, which borders Bangladesh, on April 12, after a month-long siege. About 500 prisoners were taken along with over 100 dependents. More battles continue in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Am Townships. (Khit Thit Media 4/13)
The Arakan Army administration is requesting that the public not hold large gatherings for Thinjan, the biggest holiday of the year, due to the danger that the junta could bomb such gatherings in order to slaughter civilians, as per its habit. (The Irrawaddy B 4/12)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
Two PDFs fired seven 107mm shock missiles into the junta’s main air base at Naypyitaw on April 11, the one it uses to bomb civilians in Karenniland and Kawthoolei, also the one that junta officers would be expected to use to escape the country as the regime collapses. The PDFs say a jet was damaged, 5 air force officers and 12 civilian staff were killed, 12 others were injured, and some other property was damaged. The PDFs spent a month planning the attack. (Myaelatt Athan 4/11) This came one week after the mass drone attack on the same air base and other Naypyitaw targets.
As deputy dictator Soe Win was visiting southeast military HQ in Mawlamyaing city in Mon State, he was attacked twice by kamikaze drones flown by specialized drone PDFs, on April 9 and 10, causing him serious but non-life-threatening orthopedic injuries. Three senior officers were killed and more than 30 were wounded. (Tanintharyi Times 4/10, Khit Thit Media 4/12) Then the next day, his 18-vehicle convoy was attacked by a local PDF as it drove through Kyaikto in Kawthoolei Doo Tha Htoo District on the way back to Yangon. Three vehicles were damaged and at least 8 junta troops were killed and 19 wounded. (Khit Thit Media 4/10) Between this and the April 4 mass drone attack on Naypyitaw, top junta officers are at risk wherever they go.
A PDF coalition in Hommalin Township of northern Sagaing Region captured 4 junta battalion/Pyu Saw Htee camps between March 30 and April 4, seizing a large number of rather rustic weapons, some ammunition, drone jammers, and other equipment. (Than Lwin Khet News 4/8)
Magway Region PDFs fired rockets into another junta weapons factory, this time in Seikphyu Township on April 5. The PDFs said they damaged 3 warehouses where airplane bombs are stored.
PDFs also fired five 107mm shock missiles into the junta’s officer training academy in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region, on April 8, causing 4 explosions at the dormitories. (People's Spring 4/8)
A PDF in Paung Township of Mon State blew up the Yangon-Mawlamyaing railway again on April 10, derailing a train and causing a stoppage of junta military transports on the rail line. (Mizzima 4/10)
Urban warfare------------------
Urban warriors fired 3 shock missiles into a junta intelligence HQ in Mingaladon Township of Yangon (near the airport) the night of April 6. (People's Spring 4/7) At the same time, resistance forces also planted bombs at junta road checkpoints nearby, close to the national bus terminal. (Mizzima 4/7)
An explosion knocked down the protective wall around the home of a junta administrator in Maymyo in Mandalay on April 8, and he fled because the house was now exposed. The Dark Shadow urban revolutionary group bombed the junta police station in Mingaladon Township of Yangon the night of April 9, wounding 3 police. The next day a grenade was fired at a junta administrator’s car in Aungmyay Thasi Township of Mandalay and an explosion occurred at a ward admin office in Mandalay. (Khit Thit Media 4/10)
Junta decline------------------
The junta is conscripting drug addicts into its army in Namsan Township of southern Shan State. (Mekong News 4/8) As an example of the backfire of the conscription law, a class of 80 new volunteers is being trained by Karenni resistance forces in Pekhon Township. They joined in order to avoid being forced to fight for the junta. (Kantarawaddy Times 4/12) The BPLA force just finished a training camp, and similar training courses are being held in many liberated areas.
Another example of a backfired policy is a ban on food shipments into Arakan-controlled areas, imposed in November 2023. The result has been increased trade with India and Bangladesh to get the necessary goods. (Western News 4/12) This makes it likely that post-war independent/autonomous Arakan will be more oriented toward its western neighbors than to Burma.
The junta plans to stage celebrations again for Thinjan, the biggest festival of the year in Burma. It’s part of a charade of life as usual. In Mandalay, a big advertisement arch for the fake Thinjan celebrations was sabotaged on April 7, sending it crashing to the street. (Khit Thit Media 4/7) During the past few years, junta Thinjan venues have been targeted with bombs.
Terrorism--------------------
Junta troops and their Pyu Saw Htee lackeys have been attacking and burning civilian communities and murdering non-combatants in Shwe Bo Township in Sagaing Region and Pauk Township in Magway Region, among other areas. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in rural farming villages. Old people unable to flee are being burned to death in their houses.
Political and economic-------------------
American diplomatic officials again invited top Burma National Unity Government leaders for official meetings in Washington. U.S. State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet and others met with NUG Interim President Duwa Lashila and Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung.
The progressive collapse of the junta is causing an additional fall of confidence in the national currency, the kyat, which reached about 3900 to 1 U.S. dollar. It had hovered around 3500:1 until February. Before the 2021 attempted coup it was 1300:1. (Khit Thit Media 4/10)
- စီၤ ထံဆၢ
Dta blu do mar, Saw Sweetwater.
Very concise and useful summary of the KNU-PDF victory at Myawaddy.
Thanks for this. Things are moving fast.