Burma coup resistance notes October 5, 2022
Junta expands starvation strategy toward villagers and refugees; regime desperately tries to open supply lines to stranded troops in Arakan; Karen army pounds invading troops.
Ethnic regions-------------------
In Arakan State, a Russian-supplied junta jet bombed Myintaung in Rathidaung township 4 times this morning, and ground troops are shelling the area with mortars. Local observers say there has been no recent fighting there, and they believe the junta is trying to blast open a supply route to its troops that are besieged by the Arakan Army. (Khit Thit Media)
In Kawthoolei (Karen nation) Kler Lwi Htoo District (Kyaukgyi township on Burmese maps), junta violence has forced residents of 25 villages along the Ler Doh-Mone road to flee into the jungle, at the time when the rice crop needs to be harvested. If they can’t harvest, it could mean hunger for the next year, as well as reduced food supply for the general population. Troops have also closed the road, which prevents people buying food and medicines in the towns. (Than Lwin Khet News) Again, the junta is using hunger as a weapon against the civilian population, as it is doing in Arakan State, Sagaing Region, and elsewhere. To the extent that it causes deaths, it is a form of genocide.
In Kawthoolei Beit-Tavoy District (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps), a PDF in Launglone township ambushed and killed 3 pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee terrorists yesterday including a leader. A gun, communications equipment, and cash were confiscated by the PDF. (Mizzima) In Tanintharyi township another Pyu Saw Htee member was arrested alive by the local PDF authorities yesterday; he was relieved of his M16 rifle and a quantity of ammunition he was carrying. (Khit Thit Media)
Fighting occurs daily in Kawthoolei Dooplaya District (Myawaddy, Kawkareik, and Kyainseikgyi townships on Burmese maps). Yesterday gun battles erupted twice in Thulay Kone village in Kyainseikgyi township. (Karen Information Center) Today junta troops tried to invade an area called Luko near Palu on the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road, leading to a 90-minute battle against the defending Karen Cobra battalion. Karen drone strikes killed 2 invaders and wounded 8 including an officer. A drone video made by Karen-aligned Federal Wings PDF shows junta troops being hit by drone bombs. (Cobra Column)
In Chin State’s Tonzan township, the People’s Administration Group now has administrative control over at least 50 of the township’s communities, it says. The PAG is the local liberation government established by area authorities under the National Unity Government after the Chin defense forces expelled junta troops from almost all rural areas of the township. The junta now exists only in the main town. (People's Spring) This is increasingly typical of townships in liberated parts of the country.
Chin forces were on the attack in Mindat today, firing on a junta control checkpoint. They say they could see some dead and wounded junta troops, but didn’t give a number. (People's Spring)
The junta’s starvation strategy is being imposed on Matupi town in Chin State, where the ban on transporting goods since Sept. 20 is leading to food shortages. The town is almost the only place in the township that the junta controls. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
In northern Shan State, fighting is ongoing between the Kachin army and junta troops in Nammatu township since a junta attack in September. Local residents are still unable to return to their homes. (Kachin News Group)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Troops dug trenches across rural roads to cut off access to villages in Monywa township of Sagaing Region, again to prevent people buying food and supplies and to cause privation and hunger. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
In Sagaing Region, a PDF coalition fired locally-made mortars at a junta convoy in Wetlet township yesterday and killed 6 troops. The PDFs were able to withdraw without casualties. (Mizzima)
PDFs in Butalin township continued to fire on 14 junta supply boats steaming up the Chindwin River today, hitting and damaging one of them. They are firing both rifles and locally-made mortars from the banks. (Ayeyarwaddy Times) In previous days PDFs in Salingyi and Kani townships have been shooting at the boats.
In Mandalay Region, six members of the majority NLD political party have been murdered in Nyaung Oo township over the past 3 days, their bodies dumped by roadsides; one of them was also raped. (People's Spring) The murders were carried out by the Thway Thauk (blood-drinking) group, a pro-junta terrorist network. Also, troops kidnapped a 47-year-old woman from Dandah village in Kyaukse township on Oct. 3, then tortured her to death; her body was found covered with bruises from beating. She was chosen randomly as reprisal for the PDF shooting of a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee terrorist the previous day. (Khit Thit Media)
Political-------------------
The junta dictator Min Aung Hlaing thinks he’s going to build an electric train line that will attract lots and lots of Russian tourists, he said in a speech yesterday. (Myaelatt Athan) Knowing the sorts of preposterous delusions the junta leadership is under helps to understand the insanity of the current civil war, and why any kind of negotiation with these people is out of the question.
In the junta-occupied Karen State capital Hpa-an, as in other cities, the junta has installed surveillance cameras everywhere to clamp down on pro-democracy activities, but does not use them to control increasingly rampant crime. Police hide in their barracks out of fear of PDF attacks and have no concern for the crime wave affecting the population. (Karen Information Center) The economic collapse following the coup is causing desperation among citizens, which in turn leads to burglaries, thefts, and muggings. Criminals are also emboldened to commit murders and rapes with impunity.
- စီၤ ထံဆၢ