Burma coup resistance notes May 4, 2024
Kachin and Chin liberate towns; Arakan press key objectives; junta armored column still blocked from Myawaddy; junta manpower deficit deepens.
Arakan-------------------
The Arakan Army captured a junta command center at Toheindaung in Am Township on April 25. The surviving troops from the camp’s contingent of 600 fled and are being chased by the AA. Ground routes are cut off by the AA, so the junta only has access by air. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 4/27) The junta’s western regional HQ is in Am Township, and the AA has been working toward its capture.
Fierce fighting also continues in Thandwe Township near the tourist resort of Ngapali Beach; at least 2 junta officers have been killed. Junta troops took 50 civilians as human shields. (DVB E 4/30) Meanwhile, the AA captured another border station in Maungdaw Township on May 3, and the 50 troops there fled into Bangladesh. (People's Spring 5/3)
Kachin-------------------
Singbo town in the eponymous township has been completely liberated by the Kachin army. It is about halfway between the main towns of Myitkyina and Banmaw, on the Irrawaddy River. It has come to light that when the Kachin army captured the junta’s battalion camp there on April 28, two commanders were taken, one alive and one dead. (Kachin News Group 4/29)
Junta troops are encircled by the Kachin army in Sumprabum town. On April 30, junta planes dropped between 15 and 20 loads of supplies for them by parachute. The Kachin army captured most of the loads, which contained food and ammunition. A Kachin army source said that some junta troops have starved to death there, and their camp stinks of rotting corpses. The police barracks and other junta positions were occupied by the Kachin on March 16, and this is the last camp that is now under siege. (The 74 Media)
Chin-----------------
A 4-month siege of a junta camp came to an end on April 29 in Jindway, in southeastern Chin State near the borders of Magway Region and Arakan State. Chin forces, assisted by PDFs and the Arakan Army, captured the camp, thereby liberating the town. Junta aircraft then dropped hundreds of bombs. (Matupi Times 4/30)
Kawthoolei-------------------
The Karen army’s Lion Battalion, Federal Wings and Cloud Wings drone forces, and NUG Special Operations captured the junta Battalion 284 camp at Lay Naw (Taungzun in Burmese) in Win Ye Township of Dooplaya District on May 3. Drones set the camp on fire first, then Karen forces stormed it. Twenty-six junta troops were killed and over 40 weapons captured. Thirteen other troops including the commander ran away. The junta responded with airstrikes. (Khit Thit Media 5/4) That was one of 3 camps along a road connecting to Thanbyuzayat in Mon State.
An intense and prolonged battle is taking place in Beit Township of Beit-Tavoy District, where PDFs attacked a large junta road checkpoint and the junta responded with airstrikes and reinforcements. No outcome is known yet.
More light has been shed on the Kawthoolei government’s (KNU) loss of control of the Myawaddy trade hub on the Thai border, a loss which is likely short-term. Padoh Saw Tony, spokesman for the KNU, had said that the Karen army pulled out to avoid being caught in a trap, but that explanation was cryptic. What sort of trap? Now it appears that a last-minute concession by the junta to its ex-lackey force, the BGF, convinced the BGF to return to the the junta’s side just at the moment when the Karen army had left the BGF in charge of Myawaddy in order to concentrate its efforts on stopping the junta’s armored convoy from reaching the city. The junta promised the BGF that it could continue its lucrative international scam operations at its crime hub of Shwe Kokkol, just north of Myawaddy. That is a guarantee that the KNU would not make. Thus the BGF stabbed the KNU in the back and put the tiny surviving junta contingent back in power in Myawaddy. (Chindwin News Agency 4/28) This lesson in the BGF’s perfidy will not be lost on the KNU when the armored column is defeated and it can turn its guns back on Myawaddy.
In the mean time, junta helicopters twice delivered reinforcements to Myawaddy on April 29. (Karen Information Center 4/29)
Besides Myawaddy, the Karen army has also lost control of Kaw T’Ree (Kawkareik) town, of which it controlled the majority until the junta armored convoy arrived. This loss will likely continue until the armored convoy is eliminated or driven back. The armored column is still stuck just outside the eastern edge of Kaw T’Ree town, prevented from getting through the mountains by an intensive Karen army blockade and counter-attack. It has been a month since the column left Mawlamyaing trying to get to Myawaddy, and 3 weeks since it arrived in Kaw T’Ree. (People's Spring 5/3)
Shan State-----------------
Though the Pa-O ethnic militia (PNLA) was ejected from Sisaing town by a junta counter-offensive after the latter destroyed the town, it continues to challenge the junta for control of the township. On April 27 three battles were fought in different locations, resulting in 13 dead junta troops and an unknown number of wounded. Then on May 1 a junta squad accompanied by its local PNO lackeys destroyed a bridge and was counter-attacked by the PNLA. Twelve more junta troops were killed. (Khit Thit Media 5/3)
The northern Shan militia, the SSPP, made a verbal statement on May 3 that it will rejoin the civil war against the junta. (People's Spring 5/3) This statement remains to be followed up with action. The SSPP has fought battles previously, mostly during 2022-23, but only when the junta intruded on its territory. For the most part ethnic Shan forces have avoided fighting, or have fought with each other.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
On April 28 PDFs again fired missiles into a junta weapons factory. This time it was the No. 22 factory in Seikphyu, Magway Region. The PDFs fired 60mm and 81mm locally-manufactured mortars into the factory, causing explosions. The extent of the damage isn’t reported. (Khit Thit Media 4/30)
PDFs in Bago Region attacked a column of 60 junta troops for 2 days April 16-17, firing into a house where the troops were staying, killing 15 of them and wounding 7. (Myaelatt Athan 4/28)
Also on April 28, the PDFs attacked and occupied a junta camp in Sinku Township of Mandalay Region, killing 11 troops and capturing 15 alive as well as seizing weapons and ammunition. Among the dead was a lieutenant colonel from a training camp that is involved in processing forced recruits under the junta’s conscription campaign. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 4/30)
All over Burma there are regular reports of local PDF groups bombing junta police barracks, road checkpoints, and army camps using fixed-wing drones. The casualties are usually in the single digits, but the continuous bombing denies the regime the ability to occupy the territory without consequences, and obliges troops to take protective measures that disrupt its activities.
The Federal Wings specialized drone warfare PDF that operates in multiple locations around Burma, has added a second specialty: Manufacture of bullet-absorbing helmets and vests. These feature a fibrous layer nearly 10mm thick that stops some shrapnel and bullets from handguns, though not necessarily from military rifles. (Federal Wings 5/1)
A junta railroad resupply line was sabotaged again, this time in eastern Bago Region between Yangon and Naypyitaw. Someone blew the tracks and caused a train to derail. (Khit Thit Media 5/1) On May 1 PDFs also destroyed a bridge on a road in the same area used by the junta to supply its battalion in Kanyuk Kwin, eastern Bago Region. (Khit Thit Media 5/2)
PDF attacks in Yesagyo Township of Magway Region on May 2 and 3 killed a total of 10 junta troops and gained captured weapons. The first attack was with small arms on a road checkpoint where 8 troops were killed. The next day 2 more died from a roadside bomb attack. (People's Spring 5/3)
Junta troops are extorting cash from travelers in K’Ser Doh (Thayetchaung) Township of Kawthoolei’s Beit-Tavoy District while disguised as PDF members. They stop vehicles along roads and demand money, attempting to tarnish the reputation of the local PDFs. (Khit Thit Media 5/1)
Urban warfare------------------
A junta supporter who led the killing of anti-coup protesters in Kyimandaing Township of Yangon in December 2021 was assassinated on April 27 by an urban guerrilla group. (Khit Thit Media 4/27)
A junta military equipment factory was bombed in Hlaing Township of Yangon on April 28. (People's Spring 4/29)
An urban PDF blew up a junta camp gate in Mingaladon Township of Yangon, near the airport and an airforce base, on May 3. (People's Spring 5/4)
Junta decline------------------
In Yangon, Mandalay, Magway Region, Mawlamyaing city, and other places, the junta has stepped up its kidnapping of men and male youth for military service, causing an exodus of people for fear of forced conscription. Troops stop vehicles and drag people away. After kidnapping, victims are denied contact with their families. (Khit Thit Media, Than Lwin Times 4/28)
Similarly, the junta is now requiring that all military veterans must continue serving until age 67 (Mizzima 4/28), and men of conscription age are not allowed to leave the country. (Khit Thit Media 5/2) Conscripts are not exempted even if they have drug addiction, HIV, broken limbs, heart disease, or other illnesses. (Than Lwin Times 5/3)
After the junta populated government ministries with military officers as managers of departments they knew nothing about, because it didn’t trust civilians, the junta is now calling those officers back to combat roles. (Khit Thit Media 5/4) The manpower deficit is becoming increasingly severe.
Not only the junta itself, but also its lackey militias are forcibly recruiting. Ethnic Pa-O men grabbed by the PNO Pa-O proxy force of the junta in southern Shan State are being sent directly to fight on the front lines against the seasoned Karenni defense forces, with no training, and are getting killed. (People's Spring 4/28)
Meanwhile, the National Unity Government says it has helped over 15,000 people to avoid the junta’s conscription. It maintains an information hotline on Telegram and provides connections that draft avoiders can use to get to safe areas, and over 26,000 people have used this service. Most of these people wanted to join the resistance forces, the NUG said. (DVB E 5/3)
The junta is barring trucks entering central Burma that entered the country from China through Lwejei, the border town liberated by the Kachin Army last month. More than 50 large trucks are stranded along the Mandalay highway. (The Irrawaddy B 5/4)
Deputy dictator Soe Win has reappeared in public following almost 4 weeks of absence. He was twice drone-bombed by PDFs in Mawlamyaing city when he went there to take charge of the armored convoy sent toward Myawaddy. He was reputed to be wounded in those bombings. (Myaelatt Athan 4/29)
On multiple occasions junta troops have abused the white flag, an internationally recognized signal of surrender. When the white flag appears, the winners in a combat are required to cease firing, disarm the losers, and take them into custody, respecting their rights as prisoners of war, rather than using further lethal action. The Burmese junta, however, has raised the white flag repeatedly, then fired on revolutionary soldiers who approached. The end result is that revolution forces cannot afford to respect the junta’s signal of surrender, but must continue lethal action until junta troops show themselves unarmed and in a submissive posture. Naturally, the consequence of the junta’s dishonesty is that more of its troops be killed and wounded. It is also a reminder that “negotiations” with the junta, suggested by the Thai military regime, the Chinese Communist Party, the UN, and other uninvolved outsiders, are impossible, since agreements with liars are worthless.
In the metropolises of Mandalay and Yangon, electricity is only available 3 and 4 hours a day, respectively, and the current won’t support air conditioners. It turns on and off in fits and starts. (Khit Thit Media 5/4) This is the height of hot season, and those concrete apartment buildings are like ovens for millions of urban residents, even at night. Without the use of fans and AC, they are hardly habitable. The junta’s mismanagement of the economy has left it without the means to run power stations and keep the lights on.
Terrorism--------------------
Jets have bombed schools in Bilin Township of Kawthoolei’s Doo Tha Htoo District and Kathah Township of Sagaing Region, among other places this week. (People's Spring 4/30) Last week the junta bombed and destroyed a hospital in Mindat Township of Chin State, killing at least 4 patients and a caregiver. These are war crimes.
The naked, raped corpse of a nurse was found on April 27 in Myaing Township by a junta camp. (Khit Thit Media 4/30)
Political and economic-------------------
Local revolutionary administrations have been working on roads in central Burma. In Pakokku Township of Magway Region a local governance committee opened a new “NUG road” where the National Unity Government had provided some funds. Likewise in Ye Oo Township of Sagaing Region a local administration used NUG funds to repair a damaged road. (Myaelatt Athan 4/29) The NUG has used various creative means to raise tens of millions of dollars that it has employed arming PDFs, building CDM hospitals, and paying for works like these roads.
China continues to play both sides in Burma’s civil war, benefiting from the resulting instability. This week it invited the “home affairs minister” of the illegal Naypyitaw regime to Beijing and handed over 5 million yuan (about US$700,000) for “border security,” even though the junta lost control of the China border area starting in October 2023. (The Irrawaddy E 4/29)
A Russian cargo transport plane landed in Naypyitaw on April 29 bringing parts to repair junta helicopters and jets, which are Russian-made. (Khit Thit Media 4/30) Russia has been the biggest vendor of war materials for the junta’s air terror campaign.
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ