Myanmar Battlefield Updates: November 16

Bago Region Four civilians and at least six junta soldiers have died in clashes that began Saturday in Bago Region’s Yedashe Township just 50 miles from Naypyitaw, according to local and resistance sources. A battle broke out between junta troops and resistance fighters on Saturday near Yedashe Lay and Inn Gyi Pauk villages, some 10 miles northeast of Yedashe. The military fired heavy artillery on the resistance forces’ positions from Light Infantry Battalion 19’s current base in Yedashe, according to local residents, killing a monk from Yedashe Lay and three civilians from Inn Gyi Pauk. A spokesperson for a People’s Defence Forces (PDF) unit operating in the area also claimed that a captain and five other junta personnel were killed that day but declined to provide further details on the clashes. A displaced woman also said that battles had been ongoing throughout the second week of November, adding that the military torched at least 15 homes in Inn Gyi Pauk and looted empty houses. The military’s shelling and airstrikes had forced over 1,000 locals from the villages of Padauk Kone, Yedashe Lay, and Inn Gyi Pauk to flee their homes, the woman said, adding that the displaced people were sheltering at monasteries and the homes of nearby relatives. The Taunggu-Yedashe-Hswar area of Bago Region is within the territory of Brigade 2 of the Karen National Liberation Army, which is currently fighting against the junta as the armed wing of the powerful ethnic political organisation the Karen National Union. The PDF—the armed wing of the publicly mandated shadow National Unity Government—also operates in the area. Chin State Tibual Base in Falam Township seen in November 2022 (CNDF) Most of the soldiers holding an outpost on the Myanmar-India border fled when members of the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) captured the base early Wednesday morning, the CNDF claims. The anti-junta fighters began their assault on the base, located in Tibual village some 50 miles north of the urban centre of Falam Township, Chin State, on Monday just before midnight and succeeded in taking control by 6am, the CNDF said. Around 30 junta soldiers were stationed at the base when the clash began, and there were two casualties, according the CNDF spokesperson. The CNDF operates as the armed wing of the Chin National Organisation (CNO). The Rihli Voice, a social media web page maintained by the CNO’s information department, reported that junta soldiers who withdrew from the base had fled over the border to Vaphai in the state of Mizoram, India. The CNDF added they were able to seize both artillery and small arms after taking control of the outpost, then set fire to the captured base and destroyed it. Mandalay Region MDY-PDF fighters seen in February 2022 (MDY- PDF) An elderly woman was among eight civilians injured in battles that broke out this week in Madaya Township, Mandalay Region, locals told Myanmar Now on Wednesday. After clashes began near Kin village in eastern Madaya Township on Monday, the victims–including a 78-year-old woman–were reportedly injured when the junta air force carried out airstrikes targeting the Mandalay People’s Defence Forces (MDY-PDF), the villagers said. Before the fighting began, junta troops operating in the area for more than two weeks triggered explosives set by local resistance groups near a temporary base they had established at the village monastery. The troops attacked the MDY-PDF on Monday, and several airstrikes occurred over the following days, according to one man living in Madaya Township. A local woman said the aerial attacks had forced thousands of civilians from villages in eastern Madaya Township, including Aung Chan Thar, Kin, Let Wea Gyi, Kyauk Ta Dar, Kyat Pyin, and Taung Kan, to flee their homes. According to another Madaya Township local, the military had arrested Ven. Varama, the abbot of Htan Pin Kone village monastery, and Ven. Khema, a visiting monk, on Tuesday morning. The local man claimed that Ven. Varama, a secretary in the township monks’ association, was arrested because of alleged connections with the resistance. He added that the military also took more than 20 civilian men hostage from the villages of Aung Chan Thar, Kyat Pyin, La Maing, Let Wea Gyi, and Taung Kan to use them “as porters and human shields.” Madaya Township is a known stronghold of anti-junta resistance groups and a frequent target of raids by junta forces. Magway and Sagaing regions A message dropped from drones telling junta soldiers to surrender Resistance forces in Sagaing and Magway regions reported two defections on Tuesday—one by a soldier stationed at the Khin-U Township General Hospital and another by a police sergeant from Linkadaw, a large village in Magway Region’s Myaing Township. Both surrendered with weapons and ammunition. There were also two defections earlier in the month. On November 5, a second officer from an artillery unit based in Kyaukhtu, a town in Magway’s Saw Township, received a 5 million kyat (US$2,400) reward after he turned himself over to the Yaw Revolutionary Army-Htilin. The same group reported that a police private from Amyint, a village in Sagaing’s Chaung-U Township, also surrendered the next day. Mon State Weapons seized on November 15 from regime forces in Chaung Hnit Khwa, a village in Mon State's Kyaikmayaw Township The bodies of five junta soldiers were found in the village of Chaung Hnit Khwa in Mon State’s Kyaikmayaw Township on Wednesday, five days after fighting broke out there between the Myanmar army and joint resistance forces under the Karen National Union (KNU) and the National Unity Government (NUG). The soldiers had arrived in the village the night before after being sent there as reinforcements from the Karen State capital Hpa-an, according to a KNU officer. The two sides are currently fighting near the Chaung Hnit Khwa bridge, which crosses the Attaran River and links Kyaikmayaw Township to Kyainseikgyi Township in Karen (Kayin) State. At the time of reporting, some 60 junta soldiers and police officers were still trapped inside Chaung Hnit Khwa’s police station. According to the NUG’s Ministry of Defence, 14 soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed on Monday in an ambush targeting a column of reinforcements sent to assist the troops already in Chaung Hnit Khwa. Another 23 soldiers surrendered and several others were unaccounted for. Shan State Maj-Gen Naing Naing U, commander of the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command, on July 13 (MOI) Residents of Lashio have reported seeing reconnaissance drones flying over the town during the day and hearing gunshots at night. Most are staying indoors in anticipation of major clashes. Lashio—northern Shan State’s largest urban centre—is currently surrounded by the Brotherhood Alliance, which is now in a position to capture the town, according to Lin Htet Aung, a former army captain who served in Shan State before defecting to the resistance in 2021. Most of the area north of Lashio, including the towns of Chin Shwe Haw and Kunlong, are under the control of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), while its ally, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), controls towns along the highway south to Mandalay, including Kyaukme and Hsipaw. Fighting has also been taking place in Nawnghkio Township, which borders Mandalay Region. On Wednesday, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that MNDAA fighters were attacking the town of Tamoenye with “hundreds” of drones. The group has also surrounded its former stronghold of Laukkai, on the border with China, and says it plans to capture it from regime forces.

Myanmar Battlefield Updates: November 16

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