Burma coup resistance notes August 20-21, 2022
Ethnic regions-------------------
Karenni defense forces yesterday stormed and burned a junta hilltop occupation camp at Tanguso in Shadaw township. Junta troops fled. This is the 8th junta camp taken by Karenni forces in Shadaw township since the coup. (Khit Thit Media)
Fighting continues daily in and around Demawso town in Karenni State. Yesterday Karenni defense forces resisted a junta incursion into Ngwaytaung New Village.
The Kachin army and allied PDF attacked a column of 60 junta troops yesterday in Hti Chaing township of northern Sagaing Region, killing 2 of them. Yesterday intense fighting was taking place in Indaw township between the Kachin/PDF forces and junta troops. (People's Spring)
In Chin State, Chin forces continued their defensive action against a junta gang that is trying rebuild a bridge on the Hakha-Htantalan road that was sabotaged by the Chin to stop junta reinforcements and supplies to Htantalan. Yesterday they killed 5 more troops, bringing the total to 50 since the troops left Hakha, the state capital, on July 29. During July when the troops and their bridge-building supplies were traveling to Hakha, they lost 60 troops killed by Chin attacks. (Mizzima) Meanwhile in a liberated part of Hpalam township, the Chin government (CNO) opened a 50-bed hospital, another example of autonomous ethnic and PDF governments providing public services independent of the junta. (Khit Thit Media)
In Kawthoolei Taw Oo District (Thandaunggyi township on Burmese maps), the Karen army KNDO captured 2 junta troops alive yesterday, along with weapons, ammunition, grenades, and communications equipment. The Karen released the junta soldiers in Bogali town but kept the weapons. They are based in an occupation camp on the border between Mutraw and Taw Oo Districts (Hpapun and Thandaunggyi on Burmese maps). (Khit Thit Media)
In Kawthoolei Beit-Tavoy District (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps) a car carrying 6 junta police and Pyu Saw Htee thugs to a meeting in Ye Phyu township was blown up and shot on Aug. 19, killing a deputy police chief and a Pyu Saw Htee leader and seriously wounding the other 4. (People's Spring)
In Kawthoolei Dooplaya District (Myawaddy township on Burmese maps), junta troops tried again to invade southward on the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road along the Thai border on Aug. 19, but were repulsed again by the Karen army Cobra column; 6 junta troops were killed, 21 wounded, and 2 were captured alive. Weapons, ammunition, grenades, and bullet-proof gear were taken. The 2 prisoners of war were treated humanely, according to a video released by the Cobras. Yesterday two bombs exploded in Myawaddy town at a gas station five minutes apart, suggesting that the second one targeted troops responding to the first. Junta troops and BGF then closed some roads. (Khit Thit Media)
Two more junta soldiers in Dooplaya District defected to the Karen army recently, it was announced today. They brought 3 weapons and a quantity of ammunition. Their reasons for leaving are that rank-and-file troops feel exploited by the generals for their own profit, and resent being kept on the front lines for months at a time and never allowed to visit their families. They say they have waited for a long time to switch sides, and that many others feel the same way. They hesitated out of concern for their families, but finally decided to defect anyway. Upon arrival at the Karen army, the two were awarded the bounty provided by the National Unity Government for junta defectors. Officers and soldiers who want to leave the junta and do CDM can contact People's Goal's Telegram https://t.me/PeopleGoal and get the help they need. (People's Spring)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
In Pauk township of Magway Region, junta terror squads burned Nyaungyin, Sathein, and Gwegone villages yesterday. Before torching the houses, troops stole anything of value including food from them and loaded their booty into a helicopter. (Khit Thit Media)
Troops are invading and burning Ngyeinsan village in Ayadaw township of Sagaing Region, which has caused the residents of 7 nearby villages also to flee into the bush. (The Irrawaddy)
The junta is repeating its pattern of helicopter-borne village surprise terror attacks again, this time in Palay township of Sagaing Region. Yesterday 3 Russian-supplied Mi17 helicopters landed troops in Ledamma, Paypin, and Tankingyi villages. People had little notice to escape, and some were caught, beaten, and tortured. At latest report the burning has not started yet. (People's Spring)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
The junta has replaced its head of the northern command once again. Gen. Myat Thet Oo was appointed last February after the failure of his predecessor to crush the Kachin army and its allied PDFs. Now he is replaced by Gen. Koko Maung from the southeast command, for the same reason that the armed resistance in the north is stronger than ever. (Mizzima)
A car carrying the junta major in charge of terrorizing Chaung Oo township of Sagaing Region was blown up 2 days ago Aug. 19 by a PDF roadside bomb, seriously wounding him and 3 other troops. This is his second serious injury from PDF bombs. (Khit Thit Media)
In Khin Oo township, a PDF attacked a junta camp at Madaunghla village yesterday using drone bombs and small arms for 30 minutes. The PDF says there were junta fatalities but can’t give a number. (Khit Thit Media)
In Wetlet township of Sagaing Region a 9-vehicle junta convoy was attacked with 4 large roadside bombs on Aug. 19, hitting 2 of the armored trucks. Casualties aren’t known.
A PDF in Yinmapin township fired on junta troops returning from the terror attack on Kapine and Zeekone villages on Aug. 19, picking off two soldiers with sniper fire. (People's Spring) Yesterday another PDF fired 40mm grenades at the same junta gang, killing 5 more. (Myaelatt Athan)
Since the shoot-out on a Mandalay inter-city bus 4 days ago that killed 3 PDF members and 2 junta troops, passengers are avoiding the buses from Mandalay, and many have stopped running for lack of passengers. In general, the junta is requiring bus lines to collect detailed personal information on each bus passenger when selling tickets, such as national ID number, contact numbers, itinerary, and seat numbers, as part of its police-state controls. On Aug. 19 troops abducted bus drivers and ticket clerks after they claimed to find weapons on a bus from Yangon to Ye Oo in Sagaing Region. (Mizzima)
In Irrawaddy Region, a PDF in Myaung township bombed the junta Agricultural Bank and three police posts on Aug. 19. Results aren’t reported, other than ambulances arriving afterward.
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon, a junta administrator in North Okalappa township was assassinated yesterday by an urban PDF. 2 days ago Aug. 19 an explosion in a liquor shop killed 6 teenagers in Kyimindaing township; the reason for the explosion isn’t known, but the junta is treating it like a PDF attack gone wrong, refusing to release the bodies to the families, and tracking down friends of the six who were killed. Those friends are quickly going into hiding.
Para-military occurrences-------------------
An army corporal based in Naypyitaw, San Win Aung, specialized in drones and spying for the junta. He was a 2016 of the Burma army’s military academy in Pyin Oo Lwin. He also led double life as a vendor of drones and remote cameras like Go-pro’s and a trainer in how to use them, without revealing his army identity. Resistance intelligence linked the two identities using social media, and yesterday the Myaing township PDF in Magway Region captured him while he was posing as a civilian on a spy mission for the junta. He put up a fight and was killed. A number of video cameras, battery packs, and other electronics were captured by the PDF. Now there is a worry that any cameras and drones he sold to PDFs may link back to junta army intelligence. (Khit Thit Media) Be careful what you post on social media.
In Kalay town, Sagaing Region, the junta held a ceremony Aug. 19 to award 120 motorcycles stolen from the public to its paramilitary Pyu Saw Htee operatives. Photos of the event were leaked by a watermelon (resistance sympathizer within the military). The junta is renaming its Pyu Saw Htee violence squads as “public defense organizations”, but these remain armed militias committing violence against civilians on behalf of the regime. (People's Spring)
In Irrawaddy Region, serious crimes are being completely ignored by junta police. Citizens are being mugged, raped, and murdered with no reaction from the police. (Mizzima)
In the military capital of Naypyitaw, the junta is requiring all public offices to purchase their own mine detection equipment to protect themselves against PDF bombings. The embattled regime increasingly operates in a fortress-like defensive environment. (Mizzima)