Burma coup resistance notes December 6, 2022
Karen army caused over 560 junta casualties in November; local defense forces increasingly manufacture and fire their own mortars.
Ethnic regions-------------------
In Karenni State, after Karenni defense forces drove junta troops out of the area north of Demawso town and thwarted a re-invasion with heavy junta losses, the invaders spent last night firing shells into villages in that area. (Than Lwin Khet News) These villages are depopulated due to the conflict, so no casualties are reported.
In Kachin State, the Kachin army arrested 3 junta troops yesterday in Hpakant township. The junta’s response was to launch an offensive, firing mortars and advancing with ground troops. There was a 90-minute battle in the evening; results aren’t reported. (People's Spring)
An influential Kachin clergyman, Klam Samson, was detained at the Mandalay airport, then released, but banned from traveling outside Burma. The regime fears his testimony about the coup d'état being given internationally. (People's Spring)
The Karen army released November combat statistics for Brigades 1-6 (the other one, Brigade 7, doesn’t fight): In the 6 districts, 290 clashes were fought, 333 junta troops were killed and 237 wounded, while 30 Karen soldiers died and 68 were wounded. Over 20 vehicles were destroyed, and at least 9 civilians were killed, mostly by junta mortar fire, and 15 injured. Brigade 5 in Mutraw District accounted for 40% of the junta fatalities, followed by Brigade 6/Dooplaya District with 18%. (Kawthoolei government KNU via (Khit Thit Media)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Troops continued burning villages in Htee Chaing township yesterday, attacking 3 more villages after burning 7 village last week.
A junta terrorist gang attacked Nyaunghla and Muyo villages in Depayin township, Sagaing Region yesterday and burned down homes and a monastery; a local PDF dropped drone bombs on the troops in Nyanghla, causing some injuries, and they stopped what they were doing and took cover. (People's Spring) Troops kidnapped 15 civilians from 5 villages including Muyo. (Khit Thit Media) Junta troops are kidnapping children and mentally ill people to use as human shields against PDFs as they march around the township. (People's Spring)
Troops are burning 3 villages in Salingyi township of Sagaing Region today: Dayah, Ohn Taw, and Shangaïn. Residents of these and 4 nearby villages have fled into the bush. Witnesses say a PDF is exchanging fire with the terrorists in an effort to protect the villages and provide time for residents to escape. (Mizzima)
Junta army desertions-----------------
Three junta soldiers left their base in Hakha, capital of Chin State, and joined the Chin defense forces there today, bringing a rifle, ammunition, and grenades. Fifteen junta soldiers have now defected in Hakha alone. (Myaelatt Athan)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
PDFs in Monywa township of Sagaing Region fired 10 locally-manufactured mortars during a 2 hour period into the Topu Pyu Saw Htee terrorist camp last night. The terrorists only managed to fire back 2 mortars, which hit nothing. Damage was difficult to assess, and it isn’t known why the terrorist response was so weak. (People's Spring)
Likewise, PDFs fired a barrage of locally-manufactured mortars from 2 angles at a Pyu Saw Htee terrorist camp at Inmatee in Palay township for an hour this morning. Damage isn’t known. (Khit Thit Media)
A local junta administrator was sentenced to 90 years in prison by the junta for losing 9 guns captured by a PDF in Myinchan township of Mandalay Region. (Mizzima) In Magway Region, junta henchmen lynched a local leader of the majority NLD political party in Pwint Phyu township and dumped his body in the woods yesterday. (People's Spring)
Local PDFs fired locally-manufactured mortars at a junta checkpoint at the entrance to Myinchan town yesterday. Damage isn’t known, but yesterday and today junta troops are retaliating against civilian villages on the nearby Irrawaddy River islands, causing residents to flee, especially youths who are targeted by the junta. (People's Spring)
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon, the bodies of 13 young Rohingya men were dumped by a roadside in Hlegu yesterday. They bore signs of burning and cutting, indicating they were tortured before death. (People's Spring) Since the Burma army’s 2017 Rohingya genocide, Rohingya people have been confined in concentration camps in Arakan State and are not allowed to travel in the country, leading to clandestine journeys and human trafficking.
An explosion occurred in Kyimindaing township of Yangon last night.
In Monywa city, capital of Sagaing Region, a PDF opened fire on a junta checkpoint at an entrance to the city yesterday; 8 junta troops were killed and others wounded, and 1 PDF fighter was killed. In typical fashion, the junta then retaliated against civilians, shooting their guns randomly and killing a child and injuring another, then threatening to burn down the nearby neighborhoods if the gate was attacked again. Consequently, more than 1,000 residents of the neighborhoods began moving out today. The troops hung the body of the dead PDF soldier by the feet near their checkpoint. (Myaelatt Athan)
Political and economic-------------------
A committee called the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) says it will try to convene a meeting of all of Burma’s ethnic armed groups by the end of this month, as a first step toward working out a common position on building federal democracy. (Mizzima) While the objective sounds worthy on paper, the PPST is made up mostly of inconsequentially small groups that have discredited themselves through association with the junta’s fake “peace talks.” There were only 2 significantly large ethnic armies in the group to begin with, but the Karen government (KNU) has since distanced itself, as did the smaller ABSDF, and the southern Shan army (RCSS) is associated more with drug trafficking and deals with the junta than with ethnic autonomy. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether the ethnic armies fighting the war will pay any heed to the PPST, or consider it a junta front group, or simply irrelevant. This news items sheds some light on the daunting complexity of creating common agreement and harmony among ethnic nationalities in a post-coup Burma.
The Indian government is benefiting from the Arakan ceasefire to continue its deal with the Burma junta to open a transit corridor through Arakan State to the Sittwe seaport. (The Irrawaddy) Northeast India is landlocked, and India has been building infrastructure to ship goods via Arakan State’s Sittwe port and a land road reaching Mizoram State in India. This may explain India’s support for the junta, though thinking it can build this corridor without support from the Arakan Army may prove short-sighted.
Cambodian special envoy from ASEAN to Burma, Prak Sokhonn, has canceled a planned visit to the illegal Burma regime in reaction to the death sentences given to 7 pro-democracy activists in Yangon recently. (The Irrawaddy)
There was a street demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal today in support of Burma pro-democracy activists condemned to death by the illegal military regime. Protesters held banners saying “Stop executing our friends in Myanmar.” (Khit Thit Media)
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ