Newly built bunkers, extended curfews point to tightening security in Myanmar military capital

The junta recently extended a curfew in Naypyitaw and built bunkers around the military capital in what appears to be a heightening of security measures in the city.

The construction of new police outposts, an increased presence of troops, and additional restrictions placed on residents suggest a consolidation of the junta’s efforts to isolate and protect the area from being targeted by resistance forces. 

To this end, signs have been erected indicating that the Yazathingaha Residence, a housing development located on the road by the same name in Ottarathiri Township, is a “restricted area.” Families of military personnel are believed to live there, and it is even rumoured that coup leader Min Aung Hlaing owns a home on the premises. 

Entrances and exits to Yazathingaha have been enveloped in barbed wire, with outposts set up on street corners—temporary structures surrounded by tires, sandbags and manned by armed police. Military trucks were seen patrolling the surrounding neighbourhood on Monday morning, local sources said. 

Vehicles have reportedly been barred from entering areas around the President’s Office and the residences of civil servants, as well. 

Meanwhile, five security posts and police bunkers line the two-mile entrance to Naypyitaw from the Yangon-Mandalay highway. More such outposts are reportedly present at some 15 locations around the city, including along the old road into the council, in the ‘hotel zone,’ and at various intersections. 

As of September 17, the military council extended an existing curfew enacted soon after the February 2021 coup in six of Naypyitaw’s eight townships—Tatkon, Pyinmana, Zeyathiri, Lewe, Dekkhinathiri and Ottarathiri. The decree bars residents from leaving their homes between midnight and 4am. 

The curfew now also prohibits gatherings of more than four people as well as protests or public speaking, according to an anonymous source inside a junta ministry in Naypyitaw, who said that the restrictions will stand until further notice.  

“The new rules are going to prevent people from gathering and giving speeches,” he told Myanmar Now. 

While a curfew had not yet been declared in the townships of Zabuthiri or Pobbathiri as of Monday morning, the inside source said it would likely be imposed in the near future. 

According to local sources, the military began constructing further bunkers in Naypyitaw in early September, around the time that the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) announced that it would be launching an offensive war against the junta. 

A family member of a police officer who was recently transferred to Naypyitaw told Myanmar Now that with the military engaged in clashes with resistance forces elsewhere, the junta had been forced to rely on the police for security in the capital, and were calling in reinforcements nationwide to protect the stronghold. 

“It’s like the military is trying to build a fort around their last stand,” another local said. 

An individual who has been providing transportation services to the military confirmed that bunkers and security checkpoints were becoming more common in the city, and that the searches being carried out at these locations had become more thorough.

“They used to only ask to see your licence, but now they go through the boots of cars and the storage compartments of motorcycles to see if there are any weapons,” he said. 

The coup regime has been rumoured to be making preparations to form a Light Infantry Division in Naypyitaw, where a regional military command, an operations command, three tactical bases and 10 battalions are located. Myanmar Now has not confirmed the formation of any new military units in the area. 

 

Ngwe Soe, an officer for military affairs within the NUG for Naypyitaw, said that he anticipated significant military assaults to be launched nationwide following the consolidation of security around Naypyitaw. 

“We can see that they’re increasing the number of police officers in Naypyitaw and sending the soldiers to the frontlines,” Ngwe Soe, who is also the commander of the Naypyitaw People’s Defence Force (PDF), said. 

He claimed that junta snipers had been deployed around the city as well. 

The PDF, along with allied resistance groups and ethnic armed organisations, have been preparing to attack junta forces at close range in Naypyitaw using guerrilla tactics, he said. 

“I think what we are seeing in Naypyitaw are the military’s preparations for the final battle,” Ngwe Soe told Myanmar Now. 

Fierce clashes have been taking place between the junta’s armed forces and resistance groups in southern Shan State’s Moebye, just five hours’ drive from Naypyitaw, and where the military has suffered significant casualties. Four civilians were also killed last week in the Myanmar army shelling of a makeshift displaced persons camp in a Moebye monastery.