Burma coup resistance notes August 14, 2022
Ethnic regions-------------------
Yesterday's battles in Rathidaung and Maungdaw townships of Arakan State resulted in the deaths of 30 junta troops and 6 captured by the Arakan army. The AA also seized a number of weapons and ammunition. (Khit Thit Media) This is no longer a skirmish or warning fire, but significant combat, and signals that the Arakan army has now joined the other ethnic armies and the PDFs in open warfare against the illegal junta. It will force the junta to divert troops to Arakan State, leaving other fronts weakened.
Further north in Chin State, Chin defense forces are still resisting the junta's attempt to get to a bridge on the Hakha-Htantalan road and rebuild it, after Chin forces blew it up to stop junta military transport. Chin forces attacked a tent housing regime troops yesterday, causing unknown casualties and driving the survivors to flee. The Chin were able to seize a quantity of ammunition and grenades, and there was blood at the junta camp. (People's Spring)
In Kawthoolei (Karen nation) Doo Tha Htoo District (Thagon township on Burmese maps), a group of junta troops who strayed from their camp stepped on a landmine yesterday. A company commander was killed and 6 other troops were wounded. (People's Spring)
One of the Karen splinter armed groups may soon rejoin the Karen army. Saw Aye Wan, leader of the DKBA faction, said on Karen Martyrs Day that the Karen armed forces will be reunited and fight together for the goals of the martyrs, which mainly focused on self-determination for the Karen people. (Karen Information Center) The details of the reunion aren't spelled out, e.g. whether the DKBA will integrate into the Karen army as another faction did this past March, or simply change loyalty and fight alongside the Karen army instead of the junta. The move could be opportunism, as the tide turns against the junta and the DKBA wants to be on the winning side. In any case, this comes as bad news for the junta, which has struggled and suffered heavy losses in Dooplaya District, where the DKBA is concentrated.
The steady stream of junta army defections continues. A soldier recently left his unit in Kyaikto, Kawthoolei Doo Tha Htoo District, and joined the Karen army there. (Myanmar Now)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
In Sagaing Region, PDFs opposing 80 junta/Pyu Saw Htee village terror operatives in Depayin township succeeded in killing 21 of the marauders yesterday. Then the junta forces raided a PDF camp, capturing 7 PDF soldiers and killing 1; those captured are almost certain to be murdered in captivity by the junta, which often tortures its captives before death. The junta is continuing its village terror campaign in Depayin. (Khit Thit Media) In Wantho township yesterday, five pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee thugs entered a village to collect bribes for the regime from illegal gold diggers. A local PDF killed 2 of them and wounded another; then junta troops showed up and the PDF withdrew without casualties. (People's Spring)
In Banmauk township of Sagaing Region, the Kachin army and allied PDFs have been battling junta troops for the past two days. No outcome is reported yet. (People's Spring)
A battle occurred on Aug. 11 in Yinpaw village on the Kalay-Gangaw township border (also the Sagaing-Magway Region border). Details of the battle aren't reported, but since then the junta has been shipping in troops by air through the Kalay airport and sending them south toward Yinpaw. This reaction suggests major junta losses at Yinpaw. (People's Spring)
In Mandalay Region's Wandwin township, a PDF drone followed a junta truck carrying trainee troops along the Yangon-Mandalay highway yesterday, then dropped a bomb in front of it, blowing the front wheels off and shattering the windshield. The junta says 1 soldier died and 6 were wounded, but the PDF says its drone footage shows that at least 4 were killed.
PDFs in Mandalay Region and Shan State are warning travelers to drive with their car windows open to avoid being targeted. Junta personnel now regularly hide in civilian vehicles when they travel to avoid being attacked with roadside bombs and gunfire, so the PDFs want to be able to distinguish civilians from plain-clothes troops so they don't harm the former. (People's Spring)
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon, PDFs detonated bombs last night in Hlaingthaya, Thaketa (junta electric company), and South Dagon townships.
In Mandalay, a fuel station of the Denko junta-crony company was bombed by an urban PDF yesterday, accusing Denko of supplying fuel to the junta while withholding it from the public.
Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)-------------------
Since there are no more reserve troops in the junta army, the regime is now sending workers from a military equipment factory in Pyay, Bago Region to stand guard outside key installations. Police have been moved from inside the city to checkpoints at the perimeter, and some checkpoints have simply closed for lack of personnel. The lack of police, and fear on the part of remaining police, means that criminals have free reign. Troops being sent to the front lines are reportedly very reluctant to go, and of those that have gone, they haven't been heard from again, and it is uknown whether they are still alive. (Myaelatt Athan)
In another sign of increasing economic desperation, troopers of the illegal regime abducted money changers in Myawaddy on the Thai border yesterday, stealing all the currency they had on hand. They accuse the traders of changing Burma kyats for Thai baht at the market rate, which is significantly higher than the fake rate dictated by the regime. Also, as the value of the kyat collapses, gold dealers in the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay have closed shop and gone into hiding, out of fear that they will be treated in the same way as the money changers. The price of gold, like the rate of the US dollar, has surged against the Burmese kyat. The regime has made it illegal to hold US dollars; it wants them all turned over to the junta. The kyat reached 3,100 to the US dollar yesterday, compared to 1,300 before the Feb. 2021 coup. (Khit Thit Media)