The Natogyi Township People’s Defence Force (PDF) fired makeshift mortar shells at junta personnel guarding an off-take station along the major oil and gas pipelines to China in Mandalay Region at 1:30am on Monday, an officer from the resistance group said.
The station in question is located two miles east of Natogyi’s administrative centre, on the Myingyan-Mandalay road.
The soldiers—not the pipelines—were the PDF’s target, the group’s officer told Myanmar Now.
“Thirteen soldiers were on guard duty. We fired two shots from heavy weapons at them. I’m sure many of them got hit,” the officer, who calls himself Twantay, said. “We have confirmed through witnesses that one side of the off-take station’s walls was torn open.”
The pipelines, constructed in 2011 and 2013 under the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party administration, carry gas and oil nearly 500 miles from the Rakhine State coast through Magway, Mandalay and Shan State to Yunnan in China.
“We know the military council doesn’t like it when China is harmed in any way but we weren’t exactly targeting the pipeline,” Twantay added.
A Myingyan local who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity said that he heard gunshots after midnight on the night in question. He also said that residents of the area frequently hear the soldiers stationed at the site firing their guns.
“We heard two very loud bangs. The soldiers who are stationed there as guards usually fire random shots when they are drunk but I think the resistance forces actually came last night,” he said on Monday.
The site in question is two acres wide and typically guarded by 13 troops, according to locals, who said that the only known employees are two Myanmar nationals paid 250,000 kyat (US$140) per month to work there.
Myanmar army soldiers have reportedly been guarding the off-take station since March of last year, one month after the military coup. However, since the incident, security has been tightened even further in Natogyi, particularly around the two nearest villages to the site: Htan Zin and Nyaung Pin Zauk.
“Soldiers in full uniform are stopping every vehicle on the road and doing security checks,” the man from Myingyan said, adding that he would be avoiding the area due to the increased presence of the junta’s armed forces.
The military council has not released any information on the alleged incident.
In January, citing the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), Myanmar Now reported that the junta had planted landmines near a pumping station along the same oil and gas pipelines in Hsipaw Township, northern Shan State. The mines are reportedly in forested areas on both sides of the Mandalay-Lashio highway.
The area is located in a conflict zone where multiple armed groups are active; during a clash at that time between unconfirmed groups, SHRF reported that an artillery shell had landed some 60 feet from the pipeline.
Similarly to the off-take station in Natogyi, around 20 junta soldiers began guarding the pumping station in Hsipaw after the coup and subsequent attacks on military infrastructure by armed resistance forces nationwide.
Anti-dictatorship protesters have at times called for the destruction of the cross-country pipelines due to the major revenue earned by the junta through the sale of oil and gas, and China’s perceived enabling of the junta.
Defence minister for the National Unity Government (NUG), Yee Mon, has said in the past that China had asked that the PDF, which is under the NUG, not target its investments and business for attack.
One day before firing on the junta personnel guarding the facility in Natogyi, the PDF reported that it caused two military casualties in an attack on five soldiers on four motorcycles patrolling Yon Htoe village, on the border of Natogyi-Myingyan townships.
One of the soldiers was killed by an explosive set by the resistance and another during a 30-minute exchange of gunfire, Twantay, the PDF officer, said, adding that his members confiscated four motorcycles, as well as helmets and a sword.
Myanmar Now was unable to confirm the PDF’s report of the clash or the number of casualties.
