Burma coup resistance notes February 3, 2024
Karen kill senior junta officers in a helicopter; Arakan overrun multiple junta battalions; Pa-O inflict heavy casualties; nationwide silent strike on coup 3rd anniversary; Kachin lose a town.
Kawthoolei-------------------
The Karen army Cobra Column’s snipers shot down a junta helicopter carrying senior junta officers in Thinganyinaung near Myawaddy on Jan. 29. Five officers died including the newly-appointed junta 44th Division general, in charge of all southeast operations. A colonel, a major, and two captains were also killed. (Karen Information Center, The Irrawaddy B 1/29) The Cobras killed an earlier 44th Division commander by sniper fire in 2022.
After the helicopter kill the junta sent 500 troops from Pa’an toward Myawaddy, going by rural roads because the Karen army controls the Asia Highway. Fighting broke out on Feb. 2 in Myawaddy and nearby points along the Asia Highway; more news will follow. (Karen Information Center 2/2)
The Kawthoolei government (KNU) announced news of a Jan. 22 battle in Ajat In village of Moo Township, Kler Lwi Htoo District, saying that 72 junta troops were killed and 78 wounded. Most of the casualties were not regular soldiers but police and troops from an engineering battalion. (Khit Thit Media 1/28)
Fighting is raging in 5 places in Beit-Tavoy District. PDFs attacked junta positions in Launglone town on Jan. 29, and a lengthy battle began, and the junta police barracks in Maungmagan was attacked Jan. 31. In Palaw Township PDFs destroyed a junta/Pyu Saw Htee camp and killed 7 enemy, and an attack on a junta check gate in Beit Township stopped traffic all day Jan. 29 on Highway 8. During 2 weeks of fighting in Beit Township 17 junta troops were killed as PDFs waged war on a battalion camp; then 10 more were killed on Feb. 1 as a junta column attacked Ban Lao village. There is also fighting in Thayetchaung and Dawei Townships. The junta is bombing with aircraft. (People's Spring 1/31, 2/2)
Junta troops invaded northern Kaw T’Ree town on Jan. 27 and ran into fire from the Karen army White Tiger Column. About 10 invaders were killed during an hour of fighting. Before retreating, they torched some local homes. The city is nearly unoccupied since residents fled in December. (Khit Thit Media 1/28)
The Karen army and Mon PDFs attacked 2 police barracks in Thabyuzayat Township of Mon State on Jan. 31, causing about 40 junta casualties during a 5-hour battle, but not overrunning the positions because of airstrikes and mortar fire. (Karen Information Center 2/2)
January 31 was the 75th Karen Revolution Day, marking that many years that the Karen people have been in constant warfare for their defense and self-determination against the Burmese military. Celebrations were held all over Kawthoolei and in Karen communities worldwide. Junta jets targeted one of those celebrations in Kwila village of Kler Lwi Htoo District, but they arrived after it was over and everyone was gone. The bombs damaged a toilet, a dining room, and a clinic, and a pig received fatal injuries. (Karen Information Center 2/1)
Arakan-------------------
As the Arakan Army was overrunning a junta base in Myepon Township on Jan. 27, the junta sent two navy boats to evacuate the troops, and they destroyed howitzer artillery and other weapons that they couldn’t remove as they left. Then the AA occupied the base. (People's Spring 1/27)
The junta dropped chemical bombs again, this time in Yanbwe in Minbya Township of Arakan State on Jan. 26, causing vomiting and dizziness among civilians. (Western News 1/28) The AA captured 2 battalion bases in Minbya on Jan. 28 . The junta commander was killed and 53 junta troops were taken prisoner. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 1/29)
In Myauk Oo Township the AA attacked 3 junta bases on Jan. 30 and captured one of them the same day, then continued working on the other two. The one captured was responsible for shelling historic sites and a cultural history museum in Myauk Oo town. It yielded a huge volume of captured weapons of multiple types. (People's Spring 2/1)
The AA is on a broad offensive against the junta in Myauk Oo, Minbya, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Ponnajun Townships (see map).
Twelve junta troops defected to the AA in Taungkot on Jan. 27, with full weapons. (Western News 1/31) Fifteen other defeated junta troops fleeing the AA in Paletwa Township were captured by Chin defense forces on Jan. 30, including a rank officer and an intelligence officer. They received medical treatment from the Chin for their battle injuries. (Matupi Times 2/1)
Pa-O -------------------
After capturing 4 junta camps and liberating Sisaing town last week, the Pa-O Revolution forces (PNLA) seized the junta’s Battalion 424 camp near Sisaing on Jan. 26. (People's Spring 1/27) Four days later on Jan. 30 the PNLA fought another junta column north of Sisaing in which it says it killed 50 junta troops and PNO lackeys and captured as many weapons. (Khit Thit Media 1/31)
Karenni-------------------
The junta abandoned the mining town of Mawchi in Bawlakhe Township on Jan. 27. Karen and Karenni forces then occupied the liberated town and cleared out 2 remaining junta camps. (People's Spring 1/28)
Kachin-------------------
The Kachin army and allied forces lost control of Momeik town in northwestern Shan State, which they had liberated on Jan. 18. The Kachin retreated and junta troops took over the town on Jan. 28, where they resumed burning homes and threatening residents. The reason for the retreat is not reported. (Kachin News Group 1/29)
In still-liberated Nampatga town, by contrast, citizens have begun returning to their homes under civilian administration after living as refugees during the fighting. (The Irrawaddy B 2/2)
The Kachin army attacked and captured 3 junta battalion camps on Jan. 28. The first was in Tanai Township; then it cleared and destroyed another one in Hpakant Township that the junta had abandoned 2 days earlier on Jan. 26. The third one was in Mansi Township which fell a day later on Jan. 29, where the Kachin had also cleared another junta camp on Jan. 19. (Khit Thit Media 1/28) Then on Feb. 2 the Kachin took another junta battalion camp in Mansi Township. (People's Spring 2/2) The Kachin army has seized 13 junta camps in the past month, significantly shrinking the regime’s footprint in Kachin State.
The Kachin captured another junta battalion base in Nampatga Township of northern Shan State on Jan. 24. Nampatga city was already liberated on Dec. 29. (Myanmar Now 1/29) During the 27-day battle 28 Kachin soldiers were killed and more than 50 were wounded, and 10 civilians were killed, most due to junta airstrikes. But the Kachin held the position. (The 74 Media 1/31)
Northern Shan-------------------
Since the much-violated Chinese-sponsored “ceasefire” of Jan. 11, while the junta continued bombing, the Kokang and Ta’ang armies have reduced their military actions, focusing instead on building up civilian administration in the vast new areas they control. The Ta’ang have continued to fight in Mandalay Region at Mogok and near Pyin Oo Lwin, and the Kachin have taken up the momentum.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A PDF in Kantbalu Township of Sagaing Region attacked a junta outpost on Jan. 25, killing at least 15 troops, though losing 4 of its own soldiers killed. (DVB E 1/29)
Bago and Naypyitaw PDFs fought 200 junta troops in Yetashei Township near Taungoo Jan. 28-29, killing 13 of them. (Myaelatt Athan 1/31) This area is close to the military capital Naypyitaw.
Magway Region PDFs overran a junta camp in Yesagyo Township on Jan. 28, killing 14 troops including an officer and capturing equipment and motorcycles.
Urban warfare------------------
A column of 100 junta troops went out to patrol in Tavoy city (Dawei) on Jan. 31 and was ambushed by local PDFs who killed 12 of the troops and wounded 14 others. (Khit Thit Media 2/2)
Junta decline------------------
A report from Mizzima says the junta’s air superiority, its last advantage over Revolution forces, is declining due to loss of aircraft, maintenance issues, the effect of international sanctions on fuel supply, and the need to avoid areas like Kachin where opposition forces have anti-aircraft weapons. Both jets and helicopters have been shot down recently. The loss of cargo helicopters decreases troop and supply transport capacity. (Mizzima 1/30)
A recent junta defector described how the new troops forcibly recruited from among the civilian population have little training and are not trusted with bullets by their commanders. They are there against their will and just looking for a chance to escape, and may shoot their commanders. The new recruits are sent to die on the front line. (Than Lwin Khet News 2/1)
When 40 junta troops were redeployed from Kawthaung at the southern end of Kawthoolei to fight in Kler Lwi Htoo District on Jan. 24, 12 of them took their weapons and fled, including one officer. Twenty others defected in mid-January from nearby Taungoo area. (Myaelatt Athan 1/27)
An argument broke out between junta army troops and navy sailors escorting an army river convoy on Jan. 27. A navy officer accused the army of being a bunch of illiterate dunces, so the soldiers began shooting at the sailors and killed one the officer who made the comment. (Khit Thit Media 1/29)
Terrorism--------------------
The junta has been kidnapping youths at gunpoint and forcing them into army training. On Jan. 20 nine of those forced conscripts fled their training camp in an occupied part of Kawthoolei’s Doo Tha Htoo District, but the junta hunted down seven of them. Four were killed instantly, two others were burned alive, and one was still in custody at last information. Two others made it to safety and joined a resistance group.
Political and economic-------------------
A wide array of Revolution organizations and the public staged another national Silent Strike on February 1, the 3rd anniversary of the attempted military coup. Businesses remained closed, workers and consumers stayed home, and the streets were nearly deserted. The junta tried to prevent the silent strike by threats, and by requiring people to attend public celebrations and ceremonies, but it has never yet been able to prevent a silent strike. (Khit Thit Media 1/31)
The National Unity Government and the Karen, Karenni, and Chin ethnic administrations released a statement of common goals of the Spring Revolution on Jan. 31, one day before the 3rd anniversary of the illegal coup attempt. They reiterated their support for a new constitution, the removal of the military from politics and its subjugation to rule by a civilian democratic government, and self-determination for the ethnic homelands within the federal union. (Mizzima 1/31) Conspicuously absent were representatives of the Chinese-influenced northern ethnic homelands such as the Kokang, Ta’ang, and Kachin, and the Arakan Army.
China is again interfering in Myanmar affairs with another attempt at a “ceasefire”, this time in Arakan State, where the AA has been making significant daily advances on the battlefield. (Mizzima 1/31) China had endorsed Operation 10/27 by the Brotherhood Alliance, but then wanted it stopped as it was succeeding. Now it aims to slow the progress in Arakan as well. Clearly China favors endless, inconclusive fighting in Burma and opposes a Revolution victory.
Ten organized crime bosses were arrested by Chinese police in Naypyitaw and deported to China, with the junta’s acquiescence. The ten had thrived under the junta’s administration and were then airlifted by the junta to safety in Naypyitaw when the Kokang liberated their homeland in December. China can apparently overruled the regime and do what it wants in Naypyitaw. (Chindwin News Agency 1/31)
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ