Burma coup resistance notes September 25, 2022
Sagaing People's Defense Forces hit back hard; stream of junta deserters picks up speed.
A former regime helicopter pilot who joined the resistance shed light on the two-helicopter attack on a school in Letyetkone, Sagaing Region on Sept. 16. Capt. Zay Thu Aung says the pilots could not have mistaken that there were children at the school, and that both rockets and machine guns were fired into the school and a monastery through their roofs for a full hour, killing 11 elementary school children and wounding more than that. Thus, it wasn’t a case of stray bullets, but a deliberate massacre of children by the regime.
Capt. Zay Thu Aung also says the junta doesn’t dare conduct its helicopter-borne surprise attacks on ethnic armies, who would be able to defend against them, but only on unarmed civilian communities and places protected only by civilian PDFs. From his military perspective, the PDFs are less effective because they operate individually, and need to be coordinated under a broader chain of command. (The Irrawaddy)
A member of the junta inner circle was assassinated yesterday. Retired Brig. Gen. Ohn Thwin, a mentor of junta vice-dictator Soe Win, and his son-in-law were shot to death by an urban guerrilla group. The deaths won’t cripple the regime, but they do show the generals that there is no safety even for the most senior of them in their power strongholds. The victim was a proponent of the coup. (Khit Thit Media) Junta dictator Min Aung Hlaing has postponed a domestic trip to the Pyin Oo Lwin military training academy out of fears for his safety.
Ethnic regions-------------------
Karen army Brigades 2 and 3 fought the junta today in Taw Oo District (Thandaunggyi township on Burmese maps) and Kler Lwi Htoo District (Kyaukgyi on Burmese maps), respectively. Two junta troops were killed in Kler Lwi Htoo. In Beit-Tavoy District (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps), 5 junta trucks coming from Dawei were bombed in Ye Phyu township yesterday, killing 5 troops.
In Kawthoolei Mutraw District (Hpapun township on Burmese maps), Karen army Brigade 5 blew up a junta truck and killed 2 troops yesterday, and also attacked junta troops in Dta Kaw Kee village in Dwelo township, killing 3 more of the foreign troops. (ps
The Karen army arrested a junta major who was caught at a checkpoint in Kawthoolei Dooplaya District (Kyainseikgyi township on Burmese maps) yesterday carrying weapons and junta army communications equipment. He is being held as a prisoner of war, and the Karen army will use the weapons and equipment. (Khit Thit Media)
In Kawthoolei (Karen nation) Pa-an District, junta-proxy BGF troops continue to fire mortars into civilian farming communities; yesterday their shelling wounded a mother and child and a 16-year-old girl. At first the BGF prevented any of them from going for medical treatment, but then allowed the mother to go, on condition that she not tell anyone about it. (Salween Press)
In Karenni area, the battle of Mobye continued again all day yesterday, and the Karenni defense forces are reporting 5 of their fighters killed, while junta casualties aren’t known. The fighting, which took place in heavy seasonal rains, was reported to be heavy. The Karenni forces are requesting donations from the public to supply the necessary ammunition to continue to hold off the invaders. (Khit Thit Media) Further south in Demawso township, the Karenni forces battled junta troops in Kaukpalaw village yesterday, suffering 5 injuries; again, junta casualties aren’t known.
In Arakan State, as junta troops are driven back by the Arakan Army in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, it is assaulting civilians in Buthidaung township. Yesterday it fired mortars into a Muslim community, killing a 7-year-old boy and causing 300 residents to flee. Troops who invaded the village stabbed a man in the head.
Junta army desertions------------------
Junta troops are starting to cross the front lines in droves in northern Arakan State and southern Chin State, and surrender to the Arakan Army. Local reports say 38 crossed over in one day recently. The AA has a number of junta camps cut off and is starving them out, in addition to which the AA has been attacking and capturing junta camps with heavy junta losses. Defectors say surrender is the only way to survive. (Ayeyarwaddy Times)
In Yangon, 11 junta navy personnel deserted their base in Thanlyin township with their weapons yesterday. The junta cordoned off and sealed the entire township and is searching for the deserters. (Khit Thit Media)
In Kawthoolei Beit-Tavoy District (Tanintharyi Region on Burmese maps), 3 troops have left their duty station at the Kyaukmetaung police barracks in Dawei township in the past few days. Meanwhile in Kawthoolei Dooplaya District, a junta sergeant from among the forces fighting against the Karen Cobra battalion along the Mwawaddy-Waw Lay road defected to the Karen army yesterday and has reached safety. He said many soldiers want to defect and are only waiting for an opportunity to get away. (People's Spring)
Junta scorched earth village terrorism campaign---------------
A junta terror squad fired on Thangyi village in Wetlet township today, injuring about 30 residents, killing livestock, and burning down the village. It was another surprise attack that trapped people before they could flee. This was in retaliation for a roadside bombing of 2 junta vehicles in the same area earlier today, which killed about 15 troops. (People's Spring)
In Salingyi township of Sagaing Region, another junta terror squad invaded Ushitpya and Thekawgyi villages yesterday, setting them on fire and murdering a resident. Troops are also kidnapping residents as hostages, but the number isn’t given. (Myaelatt Athan)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A PDF in Magway Region that specializes in gun manufacture says it will start supplying weapons monthly to sister PDF groups in the region. The number to be supplied isn’t specified, but it depends on the contributions they receive. (Mizzima)
In Sagaing Region, the junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee thugs who have been attacking villages in Khin Oo township were counter-attacked by 10 PDF groups yesterday in Inpa village. The PDFs dropped drone bombs, planted landmines, fired small arms, and shot Mytel cannons (made from the pipes of sabotaged mobile communications towers of the junta-owned Myel network.) In all, 19 junta troops were killed in Khin Oo yesterday.
Likewise in Tantse township, PDFs counter-attacked a junta/Pyu Saw Htee terror squad that was burning Inna, Thesah, and Hngetpyawdaw villages yesterday, firing weapons and planting landmines. Four junta troops were killed by landmines, but casualties from the gunfight aren’t known.
In Tamu township, local PDFs counter-attacked more junta troops assaulting civilian villages, and killed 15 junta troops, according to the PDFs.
Another PDF in Chaung Oo township bombed 2 junta trucks carrying about 40 troops yesterday, damaging both vehicles; casualties aren’t known yet.
In liberated Gangaw township of Magway Region, the Revolutionary township government is raising and contributing funds and food for the 8 local villages that have been destroyed by junta terrorist attacks. The refugees are suffering food shortages. (Mizzima)
Urban warfare------------------
In Yangon, 14 youths in a junta detention center killed a guard and escaped last night. The entire township of Thanlyin has been sealed off as junta troops search for these 14 youths as well as the 11 navy deserters from yesterday.
In Mandalay, an urban PDF has claimed responsibility for a grenade attack at a police station that wounded 3 junta police on Sept. 23.
Political-------------------
In Irrawaddy Region, which is part of Burma’s rice belt, the junta is trying to force farmers to plant sunflower instead of rice, so it can sell the sunflower to raise the cash it is desperately short of. (Ayeyarwaddy Times) This, while Burma is experiencing a deepening food shortage caused by economic mismanagement and the widespread destruction of farming communities in Sagaing and Magway Regions.
The American government is trying to mobilize greater international pressure on the illegal regime in Burma. In addition to a proposed resolution in the UN Security Council, which is likely to be vetoed by Russia and China, he urges other governments not to lend any credibility to sham elections called by the junta for 2023, saying there is no chance that they could be legitimate, given that the regime controls less than half of Burma. America stopped short of sanctioning Burma’s oil and gas industry, however because of objections from Thailand, a key regional ally of the USA and the largest customer of Burma’s fossil fuels industry. (Mizzima)
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