Five POWs tracked down after internal dispute in resistance allows 11 to escape

National Unity Government (NUG) personnel in Sagaing Region’s Homalin Township have recaptured five of eleven prisoners of war who took advantage of a shootout among resistance fighters to escape last week, according to resistance sources. The detainees—members of pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias captured during battles for the Homalin Township villages of Shwe Pyi Aye and Kyun Kone—broke out of a resistance-run prison camp in Nat Nan village on the morning of August 27 when an internal dispute among resistance fighters in the area turned violent. The escapees, all aged between 25 and 58, included Htay Hlaing Nyunt, 55, the leader of the Pyu Saw Htee militia based in Kyun Kone village, according to the resistance-connected source. The same source said that Moe Thee, a member of the NUG-commanded local People’s Security Organisation (PSO) who had been assigned to guard duty at the camp, also went missing along with the 11 escapees. A firearm and walkie-talkie belonging to Moe Thee were later found in the woods south of the prison camp, he added. A former administrative worker in the junta-controlled civil service whom the resistance had captured during the battle for Kyun Kone, Moe Thee had only recently received his PSO post from the resistance, according to the resistance-connected source. It remains unclear whether he voluntarily aided the prisoners’ escape or was deceived or coerced into collaborating with them. Another NUG-commanded resistance force took five of the 11 escapees back into custody on August 30 in Paungbyin Township, which borders Homalin Township to the south, he added. The recaptured POWs, including militia leader Htay Hlaing Nyunt, have reportedly been transferred back to the Homalin Township PSO. It is unclear what other actions the NUG security forces may have taken with respect to the escapees. Myanmar Now sent queries to Maung Maung Swe, a deputy secretary of the NUG’s defence ministry; to Aw Zar, a spokesperson for the NUG-commanded supervisory team of the NUG’s Military Region 1; and to the Homalin Township PSO regarding the incident. There had been no response at the time of reporting. Dispute among resistance forces A gunfight erupted at around 4:30am on August 27 between resistance forces under the NUG in the Nat Nan village market, which lies on the grounds of Homalin Township PSO Camp 3. The prison housing the NUG resistance fighters’ prisoners of war had been built within the camp. After the gunfire subsided around an hour later, a camp officer accompanied by 10 other PSO members went to conduct a security check at the market where the shootout had occurred, leaving a firearm and walkie-talkie with Moe Thee, whom they instructed to guard the prisoners. When the camp officer and PSO members returned to the camp around 10am, they found Moe Thee and 11 POWs missing. “During the shootout, they believed it was an attack by the junta forces and, believing they had a chance, they fled,” the resistance-connected source said. On the morning of the escape, a shootout resulted when troops under the NUG defence ministry’s Military Region 1 command tried to apprehend the leader of a Homalin People’s Defence Force (HPDF) unit and several of his subordinates. The incident nonetheless ended with the detention of the leader, Sai Aung, and some 20 members of his unit. Another Homalin Township source who was familiar with the events said the Military Region 1 troops had received a tip claiming the HPDF unit was planning to form a new armed group made up of ethnically Shanni youth. “They have been part of HPDF 124 since its formation, but I think they didn’t get along with the other battalions,” the same source said. “When they tried to splinter away with some young Shanni members, the district battalions went to surround and stop them. I heard they captured around 20.” He added that the shootout erupted once around 200 Military Region 1 troops had arrived on the scene and surrounded the HPDF members. “I don’t think they intended to join the SNA (Shanni Nationalities Army), since they never got along,” the source continued, referring to another armed group that is not allied with the NUG and has sometimes fought alongside the Myanmar military. Responding to Myanmar Now’s queries about the dispute, NUG prime minister’s office spokesperson Nay Phone Latt was unable to offer comment, saying only, “I have not received confirmed news yet and am still inquiring.” The armed wing of the NUG still controls the six Sagaing Region towns of Shwe Pyi Aye, Khampat, Myothit, Maw Luu, Pinlebu, and Indaw, as well as the towns of Singu and Tagaung in Mandalay Region. In many Sagaing Region townships, the military controls the urban centre while the resistance maintains control and runs its own administration in outlying rural villages. Members of the HPDF unit (HPDF 124) involved in the internal resistance dispute (Photo: HPDF 124/Facebook)

Five POWs tracked down after internal dispute in resistance allows 11 to escape

Detainees had seized an opportunity to break out of a prison camp while National Unity Government (NUG) security forces were responding to a gunfight among resistance fighters last week in Sagaing Region’s Homalin Township

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