Burma coup resistance notes June 1, 2024
Chin continue the liberation of towns; Karenni fend off new junta invasion; Kachin prepare to assault the large cities; junta gets mauled while attacking PDF camps.
Chin-------------------
Chin forces launched an operation to liberate Tedim town on May 26, capturing 2 junta outposts, the radio station, and an administration office, and pushing the enemy forces there into a single battalion camp and the police barracks where they are holding out. Troops are torching houses while jets bomb the town, in the familiar pattern of the junta destroying any place it cannot control. Rainy season is starting, which has helped reduce arson damage. (People's Spring 5/28, Mizzima 5/31)
Chin forces also began the liberation of Matupi town, seizing the junta’s militarized administration offices and causing the troops there to flee, on May 30. (People's Spring 5/30)
Kachin-------------------
The junta sent its 137th Battalion to try to retake Sumprabum town on May 18, but that battalion ceased to exist after the Kachin captured 10 including its commander and killed the rest in battle. The commander later died while receiving medical treatment for his wounds. (Kachin News Group 5/28)
The Kachin army has surrounded Banmaw, Kachin State’s second largest city, in preparation for liberating it. The nearby towns of Momauk and Mansi are already junta-free since early May. The junta is bombing and destroying those towns. (Kachin News 5/29)
The Kachin army announced the formation of a new 11th Brigade, to operate in liberated territories along the Ruili River (Shweli on Burmese maps) on the Kachin-Shan boundary, which is mainly populated by Kachin people. This includes townships such as Mabein and Shwegu. (Kachin News Group 5/31) The Kachin are growing stronger as they proceed with the elimination of the junta from their territory.
Kawthoolei-------------------
The pro-junta BGF aims to start a new international fraud and human trafficking hub at Xrotherpler (3 pagodas) in Dooplaya District. It is moving some of the Chinese gangsters there from Shwe Kokkol, where pressure from Thailand has been complicating the casino and on-line fraud business. (Karen Information Center 5/25)
Since the Karen army took over the new and old Asia Highway connecting Myawaddy to the outside, traffic has been forced through a mountainous dirt road from Pa’an through Htaw Kaw Ko. Now the rainy season has closed that road too; deep mud is making it impassable. (The Irrawaddy B 5/30) This complicates the junta’s plan to ship troops into Myawaddy the back way and attack the Karen army in the Dawna Range from two directions. Its assault from the Kaw T’Ree side in the west has stalled for 7 weeks due to effective Karen defenses.
Thailand wants to open a permanent cross-border trade gate in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, which is adjacent to Maw Taung in Kawthoolei’s Beit-Tavoy District. That area is controlled by Karen army Brigade 4, so this trade gate would connect directly to a liberated area. (Tanintharyi Times 5/29)
Karenni-------------------
During the past month, junta forces in the state capital Loikaw have become stronger vis-à-vis Karenni defense forces that occupied most of the city. Junta troops have emerged from their bunkers and begun patrolling wards of the city, and the junta talks of opening schools. It is demanding that civilian staff and school teachers return to Loikaw, although since it burned and destroyed neighborhoods, the workers have no place to live. A junta reinforcement column of 500 troops is approaching from Sisaing in southern Shan State, but is being attacked by the Karenni along the way. Fierce fighting has been raging around Loikaw’s industrial zone. (The Irrawaddy B 5/30)
Arakan------------------
The junta has barricaded itself inside both Thandwe town and the Arakan capital Sittwe, awaiting imminent attack by the Arakan Army, which controls all the surrounding terrain. Citizens cannot enter or leave, and product shortages are occurring. Junta troops are seizing civilians as human shields. (Myanmar Now 5/28)
Heavy rains in Thandwe Township have caused erosion, and horrified residents have discovered buried junta corpses exposed by the runoff in their yards. Soldiers interred their dead in shallow holes where they fell and then retreated as the Arakan Army advanced. (People's Spring 5/31)
When the Arakan Army liberated Buthidaung on May 18, it found 98 people in the prison. Of those, it released the 31 political prisoners. The other 67 cases are being reviewed. (Khit Thit Media 5/31)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A PDF trained by the Karen army engaged a 4-day battle with a column of 100 junta troops in Kawthoolei’s Kler Lwi Htoo District, in Kyauktaga Township, May 26-29. The PDF, called Battalion 3802, ambushed the column with roadside bombs, drones, and small arms fire, killing 35 of them over the 4 days and seriously wounding at least 6, including amputations. (Khit Thit Media 5/31)
On May 23, 90 junta troops marched on a PDF camp in Myaung Township of Sagaing Region. These were the same troops that carried out the May 11 massacre of 34 civilians in Lettuttaw. The PDF got warning and moved outside the camp, taking ambush positions. When the junta troops got there, the PDF fired on them at close range for most of the day, killing 15 and wounding others. The junta troops were trapped and called in a helicopter gunship, at which point the PDF withdrew with 4 minor injuries. The troops didn’t get to take anything from the camp. (People's Spring 5/25)
On May 25 junta troops attacked another PDF camp in Pakokku Township of Magway Region and caught the PDF by surprise, killing 5 PDF soldiers during the battle and capturing 6 more, whom they tortured to death afterward. The others fled. (DVB English 5/29) The junta does not take prisoners, it tortures and kills any opposition soldiers it captures.
PDFs in Gangaw Township of Magway Region used locally-manufactured rockets, drone bombs, and mortars to drive back junta forces on May 30. (Khit Thit Media 5/31) The quality of local rocket manufacture has advanced recently.
Urban warfare------------------
Urban guerrillas bombed the junta admin office in Hlaingthaya Township of Yangon on May 27. They also set off a bomb at the police station in Myangone Township on May 28, injuring the police chief at the very least; more is not known. (People's Spring, Mizzima 5/28) Two targets in South Okalappa Township were bombed on May 29, including a branch of the junta-owned Myawaddy Bank and a restaurant where junta troops beat a resistance soldier to death. (Khit Thit Media 5/30)
Junta decline------------------
The junta continues to kidnap young men at gunpoint to force into its army. In Ye Oo Township of Sagaing Region, 13 men out of over 80 who had been abducted in this way escaped on May 29. (The Irrawaddy B 5/29)
In another sign of the junta’s manpower deficit desperation, it has ordered all military personnel *and their family members* to be on 24-hour alert to join the fighting. This order was accompanied by a threat of severe punishment for any attempt to avoid it. (Burma News International 5/30)
Political and economic-------------------
The Myanmar kyat currency continued its plunge, reaching over 5,100 to the US dollar during the week before resettling at around 4,500. The junta stepped up its threats to currency traders and gold dealers. The kyat was 1,300 to the dollar before the 2021 attempted coup.
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ