Burma coup resistance notes March 9, 2024
Arakan Army one town away from the capital Sittwe; Kachin launch broad offensive, seizing multiple bases; junta abusing ceasefire to prepare fresh Shan attacks.
Arakan-------------------
The Arakan Army drove the last remaining junta troops out of Ponnajun Township on March 4, seizing the last holdout base and killing two battalion commanders and some troops. Others surrendered. Reinforcements sent from Sittwe were attacked and unable to reach Ponnajun in time. Jets spent March 4 attempting to destroy the town with multiple airstrikes. The Arakan also damaged 3 navy vessels attempting to deliver reinforcements and forced them back. (Mizzima 3/5) Ponnajun is only 30 km from the state capital Sittwe, on the same peninsula, meaning that the AA is within striking distance.
Likewise in Yanbye town, Arakan forces broke down the last junta resistance and took control of the town on March 7. It is the first town in southern Arakan State to be liberated. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 3/7) Yanbye is the closest town to Kyauk Phyu, where Chinas its oil and gas pipeline terminus and has plans to build a railroad to China.
Kachin-------------------
Kachin-led forces began attacking 3 junta battalion camps on a hilltop in Majigung village of Mansi Township on March 1, finally sweeping all three of the under-strength battalions 2 days later when the troops fled. Weapons captured included howitzer cannons. (The 74 Media 3/3) The Kachin army also attacked junta positions in Shweku Township on March 3.
The report of the capture of the junta base at Tamakan in Hpakant Township on March 1 turned out to be premature. The junta sent 60 reinforcements on March 2, who began torching the village and continued the next day. The Kachin-led forces attacked them on March 5 and killed at least 50 of the 60 reinforcements, capturing their weapons. The survivors fled. The battle for the camp still continues. (Khit Thit Media 3/5)
On March 7 the Kachin army, allied PDFs, and the Arakan Army together attacked 12 junta camps near Laiza along the Myitgyina-Banmaw road, capturing 4 of them by the end of the day. The next day another junta battalion camp in Waingmaw Township surrendered, with about 100 troops and a similar number of family members, and an enormous quantity of weapons. Efforts continue to seize the other camps. Junta casualties were numerous, as shown in videos, but no total is available. One of the dead was the leader of the pro-junta ethnic Lisu militia. Jets then bombed the area all day, killing some civilians; a 500-pound bomb fell inside China. (People's Spring, The 74 Media, Kachin News Group 3/7, 3/8) The junta attacked around Laiza, the free Kachin capital, for months in 2023 but failed to make any headway and instead lost positions.
Also on March 7, the Kachin army fired missiles into the Banmaw airport and the Myitgyina air base, both of which were being used for the junta’s war effort. The next day, March 8, the junta fired numerous mortar rounds at the free Kachin capital, Laiza, which is on the Chinese border, but most of the rounds overshot Laiza and hit China. There was a movement of Chinese refugees away from the border. (The 74 Media 3/8)
Kawthoolei-------------------
The Karen army and its Cobra Column attacked 2 junta camps at Thinganyinaung in Dooplaya District on March 7, capturing one of them on March 8. Fighting continues for the other camp. Junta shelling and airstrikes killed civilians and burned 50 homes in nearby Ywathit village. (The Irrawaddy E 3/8) The Karen control both old and new roads leading to Myawaddy from Kaw T’Ree, and this is the point where they meet, only a few kilometers from Myawaddy city and the Thai border.
PDFs seized control of a junta/Pyu Saw Htee camp on the periphery of Tavoy city (Dawei) on March 2, capturing weapons and dead junta troops. The casualty toll isn’t reported. The junta responded with a helicopter attack. (People's Spring 3/3)
Karenni-------------------
A battle for control of Hpasaung town continues since March 1. Karenni forces occupied the city police barracks on March 5, where they found a number of dead junta troops, and jets have carried out over 20 airstrikes, setting fire to parts of town. The Karenni now control about 90% of Hpasaung town. (People's Spring, Karen Information Center 3/6)
Karenni defense sources say that Demawso, the state’s 2nd city, is almost free of junta troops now, but residents still can’t return because the troops left the town full of landmines for the purpose of killing and maiming civilians. (Kantarawaddy Times 3/5)
A Karenni civilian law court sentenced 5 Loikaw University staff members including a professor to prison and fines for collaboration with the terrorist junta. (Myanmar Now 3/6)
Northern Shan-----------------
The junta is preparing to violate the ceasefire it agreed with China. It is supposed to freeze its positions where they were in early February and stop fighting in northern Shan State, and the Ta’ang and Kokang armies are supposed to do the same. Instead, the junta is using the lull to ship in thousands of reinforcements and weapons to Lashio and Kyaukme, clearly in preparation for an attempt to retake lost territory. (Khit Thit Media 3/7) Last week the junta impotently declared martial law in three townships that are entirely controlled by the Ta’ang. The Burmese military has never in history abided by any agreement it ever made, but instead used them to prepare new attacks.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
In Sagaing Region several townships are in turmoil as PDFs have gone on the offensive against the junta. These include Kalay, Kani, Tantse, Kawlin, and Palay. In Kalay Township ethnic Chin forces have been involved as well, and have succeeded in driving junta troops out of several communities they had been terrorizing both north and south of the main town Kalay. The PDF/Chin forces ambushed a column of 80 junta troops trying to return from an attack on a village, and killed 16 during 3 days of fighting Feb. 29 – March 2. (Myaelatt Athan 3/3)
In Tantse, PDFs destroyed a rural police barracks in Kantuma village on Feb. 21, then junta troops burned 5 villages and massacred 11 civilians. Then on March 4 PDFs came back to Kantuma and killed 18 junta troops who had re-invaded the police barracks, and the rest fled, leaving a number of weapons to be captured. (Khit Thit Media 3/4)
Revolution forces are counter-attacking in Kawlin Township, inflicting as yet unknown numbers of casualties on junta battalions in villages. Junta troops have burned 80% of Kawlin town after ending 3 months of peaceful civilian rule. PDFs also control 80% of Kani town and are fighting to finish the rest. (Khit Thit Media 3/5, 3/7)
In the other townships battles are still raging. No outcome is clear, other than that the junta is on the defensive and trying not to lose more territory. Tens of thousands of civilian refugees are on the move to escape the junta’s shelling and airstrikes.
PDFs invaded Myaing town in Magway Region on March 2, attacking junta troops at the court house and government offices downtown. There was an hour-long battle. A weapon malfunction and the arrival of junta reinforcements prevented the capture of those positions. (People's Spring 3/3)
On March 6 PDFs used roadside bombs to blow a junta truck off the road into a ditch in Minton Township of Magway Region, killing about 31 soldiers inside. (Myaelatt Athan 3/7, Khit Thit Media 3/8)
PDFs in Paukkaung Township of Bago Region fought a running battle with about 46 junta troops over 6 days starting Feb. 25. Fourteen junta troops were killed and 8 wounded; a PDF soldier also died and 3 were wounded. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 3/2)
Junta decline------------------
Of the 80 junta troops killed after they were dropped by helicopter to defend Yanbwe town in Arakan State Feb. 24-26, many were from non-combat battalions such as engineering, medical, military police, artillery, and supply. They were among 120 soldiers dropped on Feb. 24. Also, families of dead troops are only receiving half of the death benefits due, causing resentment. This information comes from a watermelon (Revolution spy in the junta army). (Khit Thit Media 3/3) The widespread deployment of support battalions to the front lines has resulted in high rates of death, injury, surrender, and desertion in places such as Arakan, Shan, and Karenni States.
The military conscription announced by the junta on Feb. 10 continues to have unintended consequences. Whole training classes of new enlistees have started in the ethnic armies and PDFs. In Waw Township of Bago Region, for example, the local PDF has begun training 50 volunteers who joined as a result of the conscription threat. The training is provided by the Karen army. (Myaelatt Athan 3/2) The same thing is going on in Myinchan Township of Mandalay Region, and others. Also in Waw Township, the junta’s conscription “lottery” seems to be selecting only average citizens, leaving pro-junta families untouched, leading to suspicion that it is rigged. (Myaelatt Athan 3/4)
In Mawlamyaing city, like other areas, junta police have been randomly detaining young people and taking them to a military collection camp. Those who can pay large bribes are released, others are forced into the junta army. (Than Lwin Times) In that sense the conscription law has served as merely another pretext for corruption and extortion.
Terrorism--------------------
Junta reprisals against random civilians continue in Tantse Township of Sagaing Region after the Feb. 21 destruction of the police barracks by PDF forces. Troops murdered 11 mostly middle-aged men, defiling their corpses by beheading and dismembering them. (Khit Thit Media 3/3)
Five junta troops including a sergeant gang-raped an underage girl in Minbya, Arakan State on Jan. 17, then killed her and her mother. Four of the rapists died in battle when the Arakan Army captured Minbya, but one survived and has been recorded confessing to the atrocity. (Khit Thit Media 3/3)
Junta troops stopped three random motorcycles in Kawlin Township of Sagaing Region on March 2, took the civilians driving them, tied them, shot them in the forehead, then dumped the bodies by the road. (Mandalay Free Press 3/3) The junta is on a murderous rampage of destruction in Kawlin because the town was liberated and governed by a civilian administration for three months from November to February. Troops have since burned most of the town.
Jets dropped chemical bombs again, this time in Sisaing city in southern Shan State on March 8. The gas caused vomiting, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, and other symptoms. (People's Spring 3/8)
Troops and their Pyu Saw Htee lackeys forced residents of about 2,000 households out of Chanmyathasi Township of Mandalay city during February, stole their property, razed buildings and fences, then sold the properties to business owners. Residents were left homeless. (Khit Thit Media 3/3)
Political and economic-------------------
Thailand’s parliament staged a conference on the restoration of democracy and the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, in Bangkok on March 2-3, which included representatives of the National Unity Government, the Kawthoolei government (KNU), United Nations, and media, among others. No representative of the illegal Naypyitaw regime was invited, which prompted an objection letter from Naypyitaw, marked “secret”, which was leaked to the press and published on March 3. Thailand’s pro-junta foreign minister then canceled his appearance at the conference. (Khit Thit Media 3/3)
China once again interfered in Burmese internal affairs to exacerbate instability. It corralled the Kokang, Ta’ang, and Arakan ethnic authorities into a meeting in Kunming, and insisted that they leave remaining junta positions intact in Shan State, in order to protect Chinese interests. Beijing also tried to make the Arakan Army halt its successful drive to liberate its state, but the AA refused. By the Kunming agreement, border trade will resume through the Kokang state, from which the Kokang will get 70% of the customs duties collected and the Naypyitaw terrorist regime will get the other 30%. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 3/3) It is increasingly clear that China acts as a de facto colonial power in northern Burma.
For International Women’s Day on March 8, eight Western embassies recognized the bravery and sacrifice of Burma women in the fight for democracy.
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ