Burma coup resistance notes November 24, 2022
USA Vice President meets Karen leaders; PDFs hit back hard at junta terror gangs; Shame on India; villagers forced to fight each other.
The Vice President of the USA met in Thailand with Karen leaders. VP Kamala Harris met with Saw Paul Sein Thu of the award-winning Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) which founded the Salween Peace Park in Mutraw District of Kawthoolei (Hpapun township on Burmese maps), and with representatives of local environment groups and renewable energy companies. Saw Paul asked the American administration not to support large-scale hydro power dam projects that threaten Kawthoolei’s rivers. The Nov. 20 Bangkok meeting focused on climate change and renewable energy. (The Irrawaddy)
A PDF grouping made a devastating counter-attack on a junta terrorist gang raiding villages in northern Sagaing Region yesterday. As the troops were burning homes in Khin Oo, Ye Oo, and Kantbalu townships, the PDFs laid a minefield in their path. The initial explosions caused the terrorists to run into the forest, where PDF soldiers fired on them. About 40 troops were killed. The battle slowed when helicopter gunships arrived, allowing the junta troops to retreat. There were injuries on the PDF side. (Khit Thit Media)
Ethnic regions-------------------
As junta troops kept trying to invade the road south of Myawaddy in Dooplaya District of Kawthoolei (Myawaddy township on Burmese maps) yesterday, Karen army Brigade 6 and its ally, the Federal Wings drone force, dropped 37 drone bombs on the invaders, killing 8 of them and wounding about 15, including the battalion commander. This happened in Ba Let Doh where the enemy troops are camped. (Ayeyarwaddy Times) Retaking the lost bases in Kawthoolei (Karen State) has become a major political priority for the regime; two commanding generals have been replaced for making no progress in this regard, and the junta pounds the area with jet bombing.
In Beit-Tavoy District of Kawthoolei (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps), another junta demining team of 30 troops came out to clear bombs from the Dawei-Ye Phyu road yesterday, and got blown up at Maung Mae Shaung village. Six troops were killed and 12 wounded, a 60% casualty rate for the group. (Mizzima)
In Mon State, a local PDF attacked a bus carrying junta troops today in Ye town, killing 2 and seriously wounding 1. This is a different Mon PDF from the one that killed 3 junta police in a car yesterday. (Mizzima)
In Chin State, the battle for Thibwal camp in Hpalam township continues. Yesterday Chin snipers killed a junta soldier and wounded 2. More than 30 junta troops were killed there during the first stage of the siege. (Mizzima)
In Arakan State, since the junta began losing battles in the north of the state, it has imposed a blockade between the capital Sittwe and the north, which is resulting in food shortages and workers unable to reach their jobs. (The Irrawaddy)
Junta army desertions------------------
Two young Pyu Saw Htee members defected with three military rifles and ammunition to a local PDF in Pakokku, Magway Region on Nov. 22. Their story is interesting – they previously received paramilitary training given to PDF youths. Then a few months ago junta troops arrived in their village and coerced the people into becoming Pyu Saw Htee operatives and joining the terror campaign against other villages. Now the youths rejoin the PDF side and bring junta weapons with them. (Mizzima) At one point the National Unity Government urged people asked to join the Pyu Saw Htee to accept the weapons and turn them against the junta.
It is one of the tragedies of the junta’s scorched earth terrorist campaign that it has forced villagers to fight each other. Some of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members only joined under the threat of having their villages and livelihoods destroyed otherwise. They then find themselves under junta command, committing terrorist acts against neighboring villages and people who may be their relatives. Meanwhile the people’s defense forces are fighting and killing the Pyu Saw Htee in order to protect other villages. When the war is over, there could be a delicate reconciliation process between those who unwillingly ended up on opposite sides.
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Troops are burning Thaukgan village in Kantbalu township today after destroying Pontkone village yesterday. Three different junta columns are rampaging through Kantbalu and Khin Oo townships, destroying villages and causing tens of thousands of people to flee as refugees. (Khit Thit Media)
After 100 troops burned Kyauktai and Jisu villages in Khin Oo township on Nov. 22, they then shot at villagers who tried to extinguish the flames, injuring 10 of them. A PDF laid landmines in the troops’ path yesterday, leading to a battle and causing the junta column to retreat. Junta mortar and helicopter fire killed a PDF soldier and a civilian and wounded 3 more defenders, while 7 are missing. (Myaelatt Athan)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A PDF alliance fired locally-manufactured mortars and rifles at a junta police outpost at Kailei in Pauk township, Magway Region 2 days ago Nov. 22, killing 6 troops and wounding 2. Five PDF soldiers suffered minor injuries. The PDFs were unable to seize the camp due to the arrival of reinforcements. (Khit Thit Media)
Also in Pauk township and into Myaing township, Magway Region, PDFs counter-attacked junta terrorist gangs five times yesterday and the previous day Nov. 22, using landmines and gunfire. They estimate that they killed about 25 junta troops. In one of those attacks, a shrapnel mine exploded among junta troops, killing 8 of them, who were buried on the spot and their phones captured. These were the same troops who burned Bahin village on Nov. 21. That same column was attacked again as it reached the gates of Myaing town yesterday, where 12 more were killed. (Myaelatt Athan, Myaelatt Athan)
Similarly, PDF soldiers attacked a police outpost in Monyo township of Bago Region the night of Nov. 22-23, a place that has not seen any previous fighting, so the police were taken completely by surprise. A bomb blew up the station in the dead of night. Seven police ran away and the PDF destroyed the outpost. Normally there are 10 police there, but whether some were injured or killed isn’t reported. (People's Spring)
In Sagaing Region, PDFs detonated 2 powerful bombs as 10 junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee terrorists were emerging from a police barracks in Hlataw in Wetlet township yesterday, killing 2 troops and wounding others. (People's Spring)
Tawpu village of Monywa township is one of those that has converted to a Pyu Saw Htee camp after junta threats. Yesterday local PDFs fired on 20 Pyu Saw Htee terrorists coming out of Tawpu yesterday, killing 2 and wounding 3 gravely. The junta is reportedly sending reinforcements, which weakens its positions elsewhere. (Mizzima)
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon, a retired colonel was assassinated today in Thinganjun township. He was a supporter of the coup and helped identify people’s militia members for capture and killing by the junta. (People's Spring)
The bulldozing of 10,000 homes has begun in Mingaladon township after the junta claimed to own the land and expelled long-time residents at gunpoint. It threatened to beat to death anyone caught taking pictures of the mayhem.
In Mandalay, certain houses have not been destroyed in the neighborhoods where the junta has ordered everyone out and bulldozed their homes. The owners of these spared houses reportedly paid huge bribes to local junta administrators. (Myaelatt Athan)
About 80 junta troops raided a PDF camp in Pakokku township yesterday. Two sentries held them off long enough for the rest of the PDF soldiers to escape with their weapons, but the sentries were captured and tortured to death. The PDF lost some food and clothing items. (Mizzima)
Political and economic-------------------
India remains one of very few countries to embrace the illegal military regime in Burma. Indian foreign minister Vinay Mohan Kwatra paid a 2-day visit to junta leaders in Naypyitaw to discuss deepening trade, trade, and border matters. Meanwhile, fellow pariah state Russia has signed a pact with the junta to do a feasibility study for a nuclear power plant in Burma. (The Irrawaddy) It seems unlikely that such a project will ever see the light of day, but Russia is always happy to sell hardware to the Burma generals.
- စီၤ ထံဆၢ