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Beyond the Headlines: Karen resistance alliance overruns Myanmar army base, urban guerrilla forces strike Yangon junta targets

Armed resistance

Allied armed forces under the command of the Karen National Union (KNU) and the National Unity Government (NUG) seized control of a Myanmar military base in the village of Kyeik in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township on September 20. 

Some seven junta soldiers were killed and two injured and captured in the attack, the ethnic armed organisation said in a statement the following day. They also reportedly seized multiple weapons, including rocket launchers, a long-range mortar, a machine gun, and several types of ammunition. 

The troops occupying the base were from Light Infantry Battalion 557, and had reportedly been surrounded by resistance forces since August. 

The assault on the site lasted just 30 minutes, according to KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee, who said the operation began at 2:02pm and was completed by 2:19. 

“We sniped them one after the other, so they couldn’t fight back very well,” he explained. 

The attack was launched collaboratively by the Karen National Liberation Army’s Battalion 18 and the Daw Na Column under the NUG. 

Caption: An allied force belonging to the KNLA and the Daw Na Column pose for a photo after overrunning the military base in Kyeik in Kawkareik Township, Karen State (KNU)

Urban violence

The junta-appointed administrator for Northern Ward 4 in Yangon’s Thaketa Township was shot dead on the evening of September 20 in a tea shop, according to the urban guerrilla force that claimed responsibility for the attack. 

An officer from the Soul Takers-Yangon Underground Force described the 56-year-old local official, Win Bo, as a “trusted asset” of the junta and the second squadron commander of a reserve force of firefighters in Thaketa. He had been appointed to his position as ward administrator in the aftermath of the February 2021 coup. 

“He was involved in so many of the military’s actions against the revolution… including arrests and other forms of repression,” the resistance officer told Myanmar Now. “He was always carrying batons, a military-issued communication device and documents in his bag.” 

Identification cards seized from Win Bo 

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Members of Yangon’s Kayan Township People’s Defence Force (PDF) fired a 40mm rocket-propelled grenade at the township’s administration office on the afternoon of September 20. Mee Pwar, the group’s spokesperson, said that the 1:40pm attack was carried out to avenge the death of two of its members at the hands of the junta’s forces. 

“The missile hit the office directly,” the spokesperson told Myanmar Now.

At the time of reporting, it was not known if there were any casualties. The Kayan PDF also attacked the same office on March 13. 

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A 100 household head from Bayinnaung Ward 3 in Yangon’s Mayangone Township was shot and killed at noon on September 22. 

Zwe Thu Aung, 22, was shot in the back of the head on a street corner in the township and died at the scene. Another man, Hla Myint, also 22, was shot in the thigh and survived. 

Three urban guerrilla groups claimed responsibility for the attack: the Myanmar Independence Unit, Marauder Front Five, and Black Shadow Squad. 

The groups released a statement saying that Zwe Thu Aung was appointed to his role in the junta’s administration after the coup and alleged that he had also served as a military informant and drug dealer. 

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Retired Myanmar army brigadier general and ambassador Ohn Thwin and his son-in-law were shot dead in Yangon on September 24 by gunmen who came by car to their residence in Hlaing Township’s Ward 12. 

The men were killed while trying to open the door to the house, a local man said. 

Ohn Thwin (first from left) is seen at a military ceremony 

The Inya Urban Force claimed responsibility for the attack on the 72-year-old, who had also headed Myanmar’s diplomatic missions to Bangladesh, Maldives, South Africa and Sri Lanka. 

The guerrilla group accused him of cheerleading the junta and endorsing the murder of anti-coup protesters. 

Military council spokesperson Zaw Min Tun confirmed Ohn Thwin’s death to the BBC the day after his murder. 

He is the highest ranking current or retired military officer to be targeted in an assassination by anti-junta guerrilla forces since the coup.

***

A ward administration office in Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township in Yangon was bombed on the evening of September 25 and two men accused of being military informants were shot in Dala Township that same day. 

The bomb attack in southern Kan Taw Lay Ward was carried out using a remote-controlled explosive device, with the Union of Myanmar Civil Defence, the Burma Royal Guerrilla Force and the Marauder Front Five claiming responsibility for the incident. 

At the time of reporting it was not known if there were any casualties in the blast, although an ambulance, and three military and police vehicles arrived at the scene shortly after and began searching the surrounding neighbourhood. 

No organisation claimed responsibility for the shooting of two men in public in Dala Township’s Kyansittha Road at around 6pm, identified as Wunna Tun—who died at the scene—and Aung Aung, who was in critical condition at the time of reporting. 

A local woman in Dala claimed that the men had known ties to the police. 

Junta affairs

Personnel from three ethnic armed organisations arrived in Naypyitaw on September 25 to attend “peace talks” at the invitation of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. 

The representatives were from the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), and the United Wa State Army (UWSA). 

On September 16, the UWSA had met with members of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, which, in addition to the NDAA and SSPP, includes the Arakan Army, the Kachin Independence Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the latter of which was reportedly not in attendance. 

The Karen Peace Support Network shared a statement on behalf of more than 560 civil society organisations on September 26 calling on ethnic armed organisations not to engage in a “sham” dialogue with the military council, which it referred to as a terrorist organisation. 

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The junta’s Union Election Commission (UEC) is preparing to issue a new law concerning the registration of political parties, according to a Naypyitaw meeting on September 23. The military-controlled body claimed to be rewriting the law based on data collected through investigations of past elections. The junta, which ousted the elected National League for Democracy government in last year’s coup, is claiming it will hold its own election in August 2023. 

***

The junta appointed a former minister under a previous military-backed administration as the deputy governor of its Central Bank on September 22. Dr Lin Aung, who was once the deputy minister of finance under ex-general Thein Sein’s government, was previously a member of the Central Bank’s board of directors. 

Central Bank chair Than Nyein and vice chair Win Thaw were also removed from their roles on August 19, with another vice chair, Than Than Swe, replacing Than Nyein. 

The junta invoked Section 419 of its military-drafted 2008 Constitution in order to make the shift. The statute grants the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing, legislative, executive and judicial powers. 

Humanitarian issues

Myanmar beauty queen Han Lay, who used her platform at an international pageant to speak out against the military coup last year, has been stranded in Bangkok, Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport since last week. 

The 23-year-old, whose real name is Thaw Nandar Aung, was returning to Thailand from Vietnam when she was stopped by immigration officials when she attempted to enter the country on September 21. 

Immigration officers told the media that she had invalid travel documents and denied her entry. 

(Thaw Nandar Aung / Facebook)

The Bangkok Post reported on September 23 that Han Lay had been living in Thailand on a tourist visa while she waited for an asylum claim in Canada to be processed. At the time of reporting, she remained in airport accommodation and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was involved in her case to prevent her deportation to Myanmar, where she faces criminal charges for incitement. 

Thai foreign ministry spokesperson Tanee Sangrat told Reuters on September 23 that the authorities “did not make an arrest and have no plans to send her anywhere at this stage.”

“Now I can’t get into Thailand and I can’t go out of Thailand. My situation is quite an emergency,” she told the Bangkok Post. 

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