Head of BNRA resistance group turns himself over to Myanmar military: NUG

The commander of an independent armed resistance group surrendered to Myanmar’s military regime along with his family on Wednesday, sources close to the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) said. Before its leader’s surrender, the Burma National Revolutionary Army (BNRA) had clashed with the People’s Defence Forces (PDF)—the armed wing of the NUG—due to disputes over the control of security checkpoints and the collection of tax from civilians in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township. The NUG, a publicly mandated cabinet of ministers opposed to military rule in Myanmar, issued a statement on Thursday accusing BNRA commander Naing Lin, who also uses the moniker Bo Nagar, of multiple crimes including rape and murder. Two days earlier, the PDF launched an operation to apprehend Bo Nagar and some of his associates. Some 150 BNRA members under Bo Nagar’s command in Pale Township surrendered to the PDF amid the raids on Tuesday, according to the NUG. “Some BNRA troops have joined us, while others have surrendered. Some remain at large, and operations to apprehend them are ongoing,” said Nay Phone Latt, an NUG spokesperson. “Those found to be involved in any wrongdoing will face the full force of the law, while those not implicated will be treated according to their wishes,” he added. Bo Nagar, leader of the BNRA (Photo: BNRA) Sources in Pale Township told Myanmar Now that the military sent two Mi-17 helicopters to pick up Bo Nagar and members of his family on Wednesday evening after the PDF seized his base. Earlier that day, a column of junta troops had deployed to Thit Ta Yar village some three miles northwest of Pale to rescue Bo Nagar from his hideout in the neighbouring village of Kyaung Than, according to Zaw Tun, member of the NUG administration in Pale Township. He reportedly joined the troops in Thit Ta Yar and was escorted to a football pitch on the western edge of Pale, where he boarded a helicopter destined for the junta’s Northwestern Regional Military Command headquarters in Monywa, Zaw Tun said. “He had been sheltering at a monastery in Kyaung Than before his fighters surrendered to PDF forces,” Zaw Tun explained. “We have not yet been able to confirm who was with him on the helicopter, as they were wearing masks.” According to local resistance forces, Bo Nagar knows the locations of resistance outposts and PDF checkpoints in the township, and his surrender to the junta puts them at risk of becoming targets for junta airstrikes. The junta air force reportedly conducted bombing raids outside of Pale today but has not yet targeted resistance bases elsewhere.Hostilities escalated between the BNRA and PDF in January amid raids on disputed security checkpoints. BNRA members shot and killed a member of the NUG’s Yinmarbin District Battalion 4 on February 12. Pale Township shares a border with Magway Region, where resistance fighters are currently targeting routes used for supplying the junta’s armaments factories. Resistance forces hold sway over most of the Pale Township’s rural areas, but the junta controls several villages in addition to the towns’ urban wards. Anti-junta armed groups including PDF battalions, local NUG-commanded People’s Defence Organisations, the People’s Liberation Army, and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front remain active in the township.

Head of BNRA resistance group turns himself over to Myanmar military: NUG

The junta reportedly sent a helicopter to pick up the leader of an independent resistance group after clashes between his fighters and the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) commanded by the National Unity Government (NUG)

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