Burma coup resistance notes January 5, 2023
After a tough December for the Revolution, the momentum has shifted and junta failures are compiling fast in January.
Ethnic regions-------------------
The scale of the junta’s losses in Dooplaya District of Kawthoolei is becoming clearer. Yesterday a Karen military source estimated junta deaths at 90 or more – some estimates say 200, with others captured and wounded. Two out of 3 junta battalions have essentially ceased to exist. Their weapons have been acquired by the Karen. Of the remaining battalion, the commander has been killed along with at least 10 others and 5 are missing including officers; these last are thought to be captured. On the Karen side, 8 soldiers have been killed. The regime continues its aerial bombardment with jets and helicopters, and there have been Karen casualties as well. The bombs are falling mostly around Kyainseikgyi town. The fight continues as the last of the 3 junta camps tries to hold out against a persistent Karen offensive. (Khit Thit Media, Ayeyarwaddy Times, People’s Spring, etc.)
The Asia Highway has re-opened, after fighting and bridge damage in northern Dooplaya District closed it for several weeks. Burma-Thailand cross-border commerce is thus restored. (Than Lwin Khet News) It isn’t clear whether this means the junta has driven Karen army forces out of Kaw Nwi on the road east of Kaw T’Ree, where they had been fighting.
Unnamed forces attacked 4 junta trucks with roadside bombs and gunfire today in Doo Tha Htoo District of Kawthoolei (Kyaikto township on Burmese maps). The trucks were forced to stop and a gunfight followed. Seven junta troops were killed and probably more. All junta land traffic going towards the southeast of the country must pass through this road. (Than Lwin Khet News)
Military engineers at the Demawso battalion of the Karenni defense forces are now producing 80mm (large) drone bombs, delivered using powerful high-payload drones. (Khit Thit Media) That is the explanation for the junta’s rash of mortar shells into civilian areas yesterday that killed 2 civilians and injured others – Karenni drones bombed the Loikaw airport building that the junta uses to resupply its troops there by air, since the land routes are too dangerous. Now the airport is dangerous too; one soldier was killed and three were wounded. The Loikaw airport building is the size of a hospital waiting room, and it was damaged along with a military installation there. (People's Spring)
In Kachin State, junta jets and helicopters bombed civilian gold mining operations along the Irrawaddy River in Nyaungpintha village Jan. 3, killing one worker and wounding 4. (People's Spring) The junta had previously controlled the gold mining operations and extracted income from the miners, so the bombing signifies that it has lost control of the mining, just as it bombed the antimony mines in Dooplaya District of Kawthoolei after losing control of those.
A rare clash broke out in southern Shan State on Jan. 3, when junta troops ambushed a recently-formed PDF at Inle Lake in Nyaungshwe township, normally a tourist area. Three PDF members including a commander were killed as were 12 junta troops. In this area the junta-proxy PNO militia is practicing forced recruitment, which has led hundreds of local males to flee, and may be the reason for the creation of the Inle PDF a month ago. (The Irrawaddy)
In Arakan State, food has run out at Ponnajun Rohingya refugee camp after junta troops cut off supplies. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Nine bodies of civilians and some charred human remains were found after a junta terror attack in Aleisho village of Khin Oo township, Sagaing Region. Troops kidnapped at least 20 villagers on Dec. 28. They had worked with local collaborators to threaten the villagers to come back or have their homes burned, after residents fled the junta onslaught. The troops wanted to set up a permanent camp there, but were driven out by a PDF counter-attack on Jan. 2, when 3 PDF soldiers died fighting. The troops burned the village as they left. (Mizzima)
Junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee terrorists burned Juntaw Kone village in Tantse township today, in retaliation for the loss of their camp at Sinnge to a combined PDF force on Jan. 3. (Khit Thit Media)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
PDFs killed 4 out of 5 members of a junta patrol on a boat on the Chindwin River last night in Kani township, capturing their weapons, equipment, and uniforms. The 5th soldier escaped. This comes a day after another junta soldier came over to the Kani PDF with full weapons as a defector. (Mizzima)
A PDF coalition opened fire for 2 hours on 40 junta troops that emerged from their bunkers at a prison in Kalay township, Sagaing Region on Jan. 3. Five junta troops were killed; there were no PDF casualties. (Mizzima)
PDFs fired about 100 locally-manufactured mortars for 90 minutes into a police barracks in Yinmapin township of Sagaing Region early this morning, scoring direct hits and damaging the dormitory; casualties aren’t known yet. (Mizzima)
Three PDFs fired locally-manufactured mortars at a junta navy boat patrolling the Chindwin River in Salingyi township on Jan. 3, causing some damage, but details aren’t known. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
A PDF dropped a drone bomb into a meeting of junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee leaders yesterday in Thabeikjin township of Mandalay Region, injuring 4 people, of which 1 is hospitalized. (Myaelatt Athan)
Junta troops seized 39 ethnic Rohingya people in Hinthada township, Bago Region, for the crime of being Rohingya people outside of the concentration camps where the racist Burma army has been keeping them since the 2017 genocide. They were sneaking across the country to escape hunger in the camps since the junta cut off food supplies. (Mizzima)
Political and economic-------------------
A roster of shame emerged from the junta’s staged Independence Day awards ceremony, as a number of ethnic minority leaders accepted awards from the blood-drenched regime’s dictator, Min Aung Hlaing. Among those disgracing themselves was the outgoing Karen leader Mutu Say Poe, whose daughter shook the dictator’s hand on his behalf. Kachin leaders T Khun Myat and Zakhung Ting Ying did likewise, despite Myat being an elected member of the majority NLD party; Pa-O militia leader Khun Okkar; and Shan politician Sai Ai Pao. (The Irrawaddy)
Expatriates from Burma and their allies in many countries participated in a fundraising campaign Jan. 3 to ensure the success of the Spring Revolution. The National Unity Government coordinated a virtual gathering of supporters in Singapore, Thailand, England, Japan, Taiwan, USA, Vietnam, Israel, Germany, Ireland, and Qatar. (People's Spring)
The junta followed through with its publicity stunt release of 7,000 prisoners yesterday, but as predicted, most political prisoners remain locked up. At Hpa-an’s Taung Kalay prison in Kawthoolei, for example, 170 people were released, of which only 20 had been kidnapped by the junta for pro-democracy activism; most had been jailed on charges like theft or drugs. (Karen Information Center)
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