Burma coup resistance notes October 9, 2022
Who are the Pyu Saw Htee terror squads? Junta administration crumbling in Sagaing; another helicopter-borne village assault.
The Pyu Saw Htee are an auxiliary terrorist group armed and lightly trained by the junta to augment its dwindling forces. They operate in regions of the majority Bamah ethnicity like Sagaing, Magway, and Tanintharyi. The PST don’t intentionally fight military battles against People’s Defense Forces; their job is to attack, destroy, and terrorize civilian communities. Because of this, the PDFs have been counter-attacking Pyu Saw Htee camps lately as a way to protect civilians from their terror assaults.
Now the junta is trying to enlist all citizens favorable to it into local “public security groups” to fill the void left by the shrinking army. It is pressuring its local appointed administrators to form such groups, which will then receive several days of training and weapons. This strategy is only possible in the minority of the country where the junta still has administrative control; many local junta administrators have been killed or forced to resign. “Public security groups” could actually make weapons more easily available to resistance groups. Or the could simply flop from lack of public participation. Some men have been fleeing to escape being drafted into these groups.
Ethnic regions-------------------
In Taw Oo District of Kawthoolei (Thandaunggyi township on Burmese maps), a report just emerged of a battle between a local PDF and about 50 junta troops in Kunchaung village on Oct. 6. After the troops divided into subgroups, the PDF attacked the smaller group and killed 5 of them. In Dooplaya District (Myawaddy township on Burmese maps) Karen Cobra battalion snipers again picked off 3 junta troops yesterday. (Khit Thit Media) In Beit-Tavoy District (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps) 2 PDFs ambushed a 7-vehicle convoy in Bokpyin township yesterday, forcing the last vehicle to turn back; casualties aren’t known. (People's Spring)
In northern Arakan State, refugees are going hungry that were previously fed and supplied by international organizations like the World Food Program, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, and multiple UN departments. That is because the junta has denied them access since the Arakan Army became re-activated, and these organizations work with the junta and follow its directives rather than working cross-border in the liberated areas where most refugees are. (Than Lwin Times)
In Mon State, the MSRO PDF fired 40mm grenades yesterday at a contingent of 30 junta troops guarding a bridge that is under repair in Ye township; 2 troops were wounded. (People's Spring)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
Troops set fire to Thayakah village in Htilin township of Magway Region on Oct. 7 and then left; two PDFs then entered and helped extinguish the flames and save the community’s rice supplies for the year. (People's Spring)
In Wetlet township of Sagaing Region junta jets and helicopters bombed and strafed Shwejin, Payalay Kone, and Ngapanchaung villages for an hour yesterday, then 2 helicopters landed 80 troops. They killed 6 or more local people, some are still missing. Residents were trapped in the villages. A PDF shot back and tried to defend the villages. Junta propaganda is claiming to have captured a PDF camp, but that would have to be corroborated by a credible source. (The Irrawaddy) This type of helicopter-borne assault to trap villagers has become a pattern where troops are afraid to get blown up on the roads.
Since the Feb. 2021 coup, junta troops have burned over 36,000 homes as well as shops, pagodas, churches, clinics, schools, and other civilian buildings, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar. In Burma that number of homes corresponds to roughly 200,000 people left homeless by arson (over 1.2 million are displaced since the coup by all causes according to the UN, including bombing, occupation, forced conscription, etc.) (The 74 Media)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
The National Unity Government Ministry of Defense announced results of 6 months of its ‘Nan Tight Aung’ offensive, conducted by its Southern Military Command in collaboration with local PDFs and the ministry’s own troops and operatives in Yangon, Bago and Irrawaddy Regions, and Kawthoolei (Karen nation – Karen and Mon States and East Bago and Tanintharyi Regions on Burmese maps). Since April it has launched 173 attacks and killed 227 junta troops and supporters and wounded more than 200.
In Sagaing Region, there was a 45-minute battle yesterday between 70 junta troops and local PDFs; 6 troops died from land mines, while 3 PDF soldiers were killed and 4 are missing. (Myaelatt Athan)
Over 400 non-CDM government staff have joined CDM in 4 Sagaing Region townships recently, according to local PDFs. These include Kathah, Htee Chaing, Pinlebu, and Wuntho townships. They are mostly teachers, health service workers, and administrative staff, and the move is in response to warnings from the PDFs. It is a reflection of the waning control of the junta and the rise of PDF and National Unity Government influence in those areas. (People's Spring)
The Sayar San PDF in Yinmapin township is now producing functional copies of the American Sig Sauer Nitron pistol. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
In Magway Region, PDFs in Gangaw township are helping residents displaced by junta violence to rebuild destroyed homes. They use trucks to transport timber and work on the construction. Gangaw is a mostly liberated area but has suffered badly from junta terrorist raids that destroy villages. (People's Spring)
In Mandalay Region, a PDF assassinated a junta policeman on his motorcycle last night, and troops then kidnapped 3 random youths in reprisal. (Khit Thit Media)
In Irrawaddy Region, 2 junta police kidnapped a pregnant woman in Ma U Pin, took her to the police station, and beat her to death. Then 2 days ago both police were hit by a car and killed as they rode a motorcycle. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon Region, a couple who were dalans (regime spies) was assassinate yesterday in Twante township.
Shwedagon national pagoda in Yangon was crowded with holiday worshipers and closely guarded by junta troops and police. So it took enormous courage to open a protest banner there reading “The Uprising Will Succeed,” and post pictures to the internet, but that’s what some young women did. (Mizzima)
In Mandalay, 2 bombs went off on the Thadingyut full moon holiday, one on a railroad bridge, the other in Chan Aye Tha San township. Junta troops and police in plain clothes lurked conspicuously around sites set up by the regime for celebrations that almost no one attended. (Mizzima) Likewise in Dawei, a junta-sponsored Thadingyut holiday celebration attracted only a few military supporters. (Myaelatt Athan)
Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)-------------------
All over the country junta troops and police are increasingly extorting truck drivers at gunpoint, demanding large payments at road checkpoints, impounding trucks if drivers don’t pay or even threatening to shoot them. The amounts demanded are arbitrary. (Khit Thit Media) Truckers must pass on these costs to consumers of the goods they carry, further hiking prices that have already tripled since the coup. Burma is literally being ruled by bandits. Also, searches at checkpoints to look for PDF weapons have created waiting times up to 3 hours; the drive from Pa-an in Karen State to Yangon used to take 5 hours, now it takes 9.
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