Burma coup resistance notes October 7, 2023
Ethnic armies are reporting that the junta troops they kill and capture include older men, firefighters, police, support staff, civilian militia, and others who are not combat soldiers.
Ethnic armies are reporting that the junta troops they kill and capture include older men, firefighters, police, support staff, civilian militia, and others who are not combat soldiers. They are not effective in combat. The regime can no longer field professional troops for all the battles it is fighting.
Ethnic regions-------------------
Kawthoolei----------------
Karen army Brigade 3 and allied PDFs fought a 10-hour battle at Pazun Myaung in Kler Lwi Htoo District on Sept. 29. The Karen-alligned PDFs say 15 junta operatives were killed and at least 10 wounded, but they weren’t all army troops, they included firefighters, police, and Pyu Saw Htee substituted by the junta for the lack of army regulars. Three Karen were wounded, none seriously. The junta then sent over 100 reinforcements and killed 2 civilians while burning a village. (Chindwin News Agency 10/1)
Two days later on Oct. 1 the junta sent an engineering team with a backhoe to destroy the roads between the villages in that area, and the local PDFs shot the backhoe driver and killed 10 troops in total and burned the backhoe. (Myaelatt Athan 10/2)
Later, on Oct. 6, the 100 junta troops sent earlier invaded a village in Yetashei Township in Taw Oo Township. Karen army-led joint defense forces waited for them to enter the village, then surrounded them and began firing, killing at least 10 troops including officers. The junta then sent helicopter gunships. Some Karen-led soldiers were also killed, but the number isn’t reported. (Myaelatt Athan 10/6)
In Dooplaya District the Karen army still has not captured the besieged Kwi Ler Dter camp near the Thai town of Lay Tong Ku, where junta troops strayed over the border last month after a failed attempt to break the siege. The junta dropped supplies to Kwi Ler Dter by helicopter on Oct. 6 since the camp is completely surrounded. A figher jet dropped a 500 pound bomb on a church in nearby Tha Byu village, making a hole in the roof, but the bomb didn’t explode. (KNU via People's Spring 10/6)
The Venom Column (Cobra 2) ventured into Myawaddy town on Oct. 2 for an attack on junta troops camped in a Buddhist temple at Shwe Aye Myaing quarter. Three troops were killed and 5 wounded; none on the Karen side. The Karen are testing the junta’s strength in Myawaddy city, the main border crossing with Thailand, in preparation to eventually drive the junta out. (Khit Thit Media 10/2)
A delayed report is in from Palaw Township in Beit-Tavoy District. PDFs fought junta troops at least 4 times Sept. 11-18. At least 12 junta troops and 10 PDF soldiers were killed, including a commander on each side. (Khit Thit Media 9/30)
In Tenasserim Township of Beit-Tavoy District, a PDF clashed not with the junta, but with an armed drug gang called Black Dragon, and there was a gunfight and injuries. PDFs are called on to exercise law enforcement in liberated areas. The Black Dragon had been scaring and threatening civilians, assaulting women.
In Launglone Township of Beit-Tavoy District, families of 2 civilians assassinated as dalans (regime spies) by a local PDF insist that their relatives were not dalans, and are demanding justice for what they call groundless murders. (Myanmar Now 10/2) That PDF was earlier accused of mistreating non-CDM teachers and students at a junta school. The NUG has been trying to enforce its Code of Conduct for combatants to avoid abuses of civilians, but PDFs are in de facto control in local areas.
Kachin-----------------
The Kachin army intercepted an ammunition supply convoy heading toward Namsanyang from Momauk on Sept. 30. Out of 15 troops, 3 were killed and 5 captured including the commander. Of the five who were captured, two were middle-aged and three were elderly, according to the Kachin army; one of them was wounded and died. (People's Spring 10/2)
The Kachin army lost a camp near Shaduzup on Oct. 2 when a pro-junta militia attacked and burned it. The Kachin lost a number of weapons and ammunition. (The 74 Media 10/2)
Karenni-----------------
The junta convoy sent from Loikaw at the beginning of August to retake Mese Township has still not arrived after 2 months. The convoy comprises up to 60 trucks carrying troops, food, weapons, and ammunition. Karenni defense forces have attacked it continuously, and it is now stuck in Hpruso Township, less than half the way to Mese. During the month of September the Karenni say that 78 junta troops were killed and 2 vehicles were destroyed. (Mizzima 10/3)
A commander of KNDF Battalion 5 was killed in a battle on the Hpruso-Bawlakhe road on Sept. 27. (Kantarawaddy Times 9/30)
Mon-----------------
In Ye Township of Mon State, five out of the six police stations are closed after repeated attacks by Mon Revolutionary groups and the Karen army. The one remaining station is in Ye town urban area. Junta admin offices in the other five locations have also been closed. (Mizzima 10/4) While the junta doubtless intends to return to those locations, the fact is that it is progressively losing control of more outlying areas each month, and is just trying to hold the towns.
Chin-----------------
Three international groups based in Norway, Australia, and the USA have purchased 50 AK-47 assault rifles and 12,000 rounds of ammunition for the Chin Defense Force based in Mindat. The cost was US$185,000.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
PDFs in Maddaya Township of Mandalay Region dropped 4 large drone bombs on junta troops gathered in Thonseipay village on Oct. 4, scoring 2 direct hits on the gathering. PDF soldiers then entered the village and attacked, killing 20 troops and wounding 11 in total, according to the PDFs. The drone was disabled and destroyed. There were no PDF injuries. (Khit Thit Media 10/5)
About 100 junta troops came out of Pakokku toward Yesagyo Township in Magway Region on Oct. 3 and were intercepted by a PDF coalition there. Fifteen bodies of junta troops arrived back at the Pakokku hospital after the battle, and 13 were wounded; 3 of those later died also. (Myaelatt Athan 10/4)
PDFs in Depayin Township of Sagaing Region confronted junta troops in Pyanja village on Sept. 30, killing 12 of them. The junta then sent helicopter gunships. (Khit Thit Media 10/1) The following day PDF soldiers hidden in a dump truck pulled up in front of a junta road checkpoint where troops were extorting money from travelers, and gunned down all 4 troops there, seizing their weapons – see video. (Myaelatt Athan 10/2)
The Urban Owls PDF in Yangon carried out another of its high-level junta assassinations on Oct. 2, killing U Nyan Lwin Aung, a weapons importer and crony businessman for the terrorist regime. (Khit Thit Media 10/3)
PDFs report that they increasingly control towns. Junta troops are confined to police barracks and army camps, hiding in trenches behind sandbags and barbed wire, and PDFs are mounting attacks on those places, killing a few troops each time. In Saw town for example, in northwestern Magway Region, the PDF says it controls 2/3 of the town. The areas around the towns and the roads between them are also controlled by PDFs. If troops leave their camps, they must do so in a large force; then they go back inside and the PDFs resume control. In Kalay town of Sagaing Region, some junta soldiers have been arrested by PDFs. Junta administration is not operating in these towns. (People's Spring 10/5)
As an example, a PDF coalition attacked a junta checkpoint at the entrance to Monywa city, capital of Sagaing Region, on Oct. 4, killing 4 troops and wounding 2 out of the 20 or so that were there. The same day PDF assassins killed a junta administrator and police chief inside the town. (Mizzima 10/5) Even that key city is no longer under stable junta control.
NUG officers trained Naypyitaw PDF units in military ethics, discipline, and Geneva Convention rules for military engagement. It is part of the NUG’s effort to instill its Code of Conduct among PDFs to prevent abuses of civilians. (Khit Thit Media 10/6)
Junta decline------------------
Another high-level junta official was purged: Aung Htay Myint, head of the national police transnational crime unit and anti-terrorism office, was given a 4-year prison sentence for “corruption” in this regime founded on corruption. (Khit Thit Media 10/1) The latest round of purges is related to regime officials doing business on the black market after the regime’s currency and pricing rules made legitimate business virtually impossible.
Besides the 6 junta troops who defected in Karenni state with their weapons during August and September, at least 24 others came over to the Karenni defense forces without weapons. (People's Spring 10/4)
More families are fleeing Pyu Saw Htee terrorist camps as the PDFs have them encircled and have cut off their supplies. At least 3 families defected from the Zee Phyu Kone camp in Yinmapin Township of Sagaing Region last week. (Chindwin Yoma News 10/1)
A CDM army officer recounted how a junta battalion commander in Arakan State sells ammunition and pockets the profit, and cashes the salaries of soldiers who have fled the army. The profiteering creates rancor among other soldiers and officers. (BBM 10/3)
A CDM colonel says that because the junta loses almost every battle, some troops are refusing to fight on the front line, either disobeying orders or bribing superior officers to avoid front line duty. (Than Lwin Times 10/7)
A junta soldier who recently defected to the Revolution said in a debriefing that he thinks 80% of junta troops want to quit, and many escape the army without ever reaching Revolution forces, so their numbers aren’t known. He reiterated other analyses that describe junta combat units as “broken” due to low manpower and disobedience. (People's Spring 10/6)
Terrorism--------------------
Junta troops hijacked 2 passenger boats on the Irrawaddy River in Maddaya Township of Mandalay Region on Oct. 2. Nearly 100 civilians were taken hostage. (Myaelatt Athan 10/2)
Political and economic-------------------
The junta is again pretending to prepare for a sham election to be held sometime in 2024 at the earliest. To that end it has begun collecting “census” data, or personal information on citizens, in 20 townships as a test, mostly in Naypyitaw and Irrawaddy Regions where the junta still has some control. Citizen groups fear that the information collected will instead be used to increase surveillance and control. (Mizzima 10/2) The junta controls far fewer than half of the townships in the country, so a real election wouldn’t even be possible.
NUG interim President Duwa Lashila issued a warning against junta attempts to create divisions within the resistance movement, and advised Revolutionaries to stay focused on defeating the illegal regime. Junta propaganda recently reported that several Kokang and PDF troops defected to the regime, and it actually did get three former KNU leaders to endorse the enemy (see next paragraph). (NUG 10/3)
Three former leaders of the Karen National Union went to Naypyitaw and provided the junta with a great propaganda victory by meeting – and hugging – dictator Min Aung Hlaing. The three were previously known to have pro-junta sympathies, and were replaced in part for that reason. The current leadership of the KNU quickly distanced itself from the three traitors and reaffirmed its commitment to the Revolution.
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