Image : A house damaged by artillery strike in Momauk on April 12. / CJ
On the morning of April 15 the KIA attacked a Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) base in the area of Nam Byu in Tanai Township. The base had been captured by the Tatmadaw from the KIA in 2018. Immediately after the attack, two military fighter jets launched airstrikes in the area.
A resident said, “There was heavy fighting in the area from 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. We saw the dead bodies of Myanmar soldiers being taken away by the Tatmadaw after the attack”.
“We were not able to count [dead bodies] because there were many soldiers guarding the area,” he added.
The military-controlled MRTV said that at least 100 KIA soldiers had launched an attack on the Nam Byu base at 6 am, and claimed that the Tatmadaw suffered no casualties.
KIA information officer Colonel. Naw Bu refused to give casualty details as he was unable to reach the area.
However, a KIA officer on the ground told The Irrawaddy that “We could not retake our base yesterday. We had to retreat because of the airstrikes. But I am sure that they lost many soldiers [during the attack]”.
At around 4am on Thursday the KIA also attacked a Tatmadaw convoy in Bhamo Township. The convoy was on its way to reinforce troops attempting to retake a strategically-located KIA base in Alaw Bum near the border with China.
The KIA said that that it used mines against 16 military trucks near Sihub village. One truck went up in flames and the Tatmadaw took casualties during the attack, according to the KIA.
KIA soldiers captured the Alaw Bum base on March 25. Since April 10, there has been heavy fighting between the Tatmadaw and the KIA as the regime’s forces have attempted to retake the base. The Tatmadaw has lost at least 100 soldiers during the fighting, including a battalion commander, despite using airstrikes on the KIA forces.
“There was no fighting this morning. But the Tatmadaw keep reinforcing their troops, so there will be heavy fighting in the coming days,” a KIA officer said.
On Friday morning nearly 300 people from Myothit, Konlaw and Num Laung villages fled their homes for a Kachin Baptist Convention centre in Momauk Township, after the Tatmadaw launched airstrikes and artillery attacks near the villages.
Clashes were also reported in at least two places in Putao Township. Fighting has intensified across Kachin State and northern Shan State since March 11, following the KIA’s refusal to recognize the military regime.
The KIA has attacked military and police outposts and has threatened to step up its attacks if the junta continues to shoot peaceful protesters across the country.
Residents of a number of villages including Myohaung and Myothit villages in Konglaw village-tract had to take cover in bomb shelters after the military started bombing around 4.30 pm on Wednesday in Momauk Township.
“They [the military] are now firing with two fighters near the communications tower. It is the place the KIA raided a few days ago. The military will attack at night. We haven’t been able to sleep well for nights. I hope they don’t open fire on villages,” a resident of Myothit village told The Irrawaddy from inside a bomb shelter, on Wednesday.
A resident of Sihike village said, “They are attacking now. They have attacked with planes four times, dropping 12 bombs. We are still in the bomb shelters and we don’t know about casualties. A bomb fell near the village monastery”.
Myanmar’s military and the KIA have been clashing since Sunday in Momauk, after the KIA raided and occupied a police station and a military outpost near Myohaung and Myothit villages.
Three civilians were killed as artillery shells fired by Myanmar’s military landed in Myohaung, Myothit and Sihike villages.
The military is also conducting airstrikes on Alaw Bum base near the Chinese border in Momauk Township, which the KIA captured from the military on March 25. Myanmar’s military suffered heavy casualties on Tuesday in its attempts to retake control of the base.
News (3)
Myanmar troops sustain heavy casualties as Kachin keep control of strategic base
Nearly 100 Myanmar military troops were killed in the regime’s attempt to retake control of a strategic base near the Chinese border from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
Tensions have been rising since the KIA seized the Alaw Bum base, which was previously occupied by the Tatmadaw, on March 25.
The military launched several airstrikes over four days in their efforts to recapture the base from the KIA.
Light Infantry Battalion 320 of Myanmar’s military, based in Momauk Township of Kachin State and consisting of about 100 troops, came in two columns to attack the KIA outpost at the base. However, one column withdrew on Tuesday, after suffering a heavy defeat in which the battalion commander died.
Another column clashed with KIA forces on Tuesday night and also suffered heavy casualties.
“I am afraid almost all the troops in that military column have died. I heard only two or three soldiers survived in that column. And our troops are pursuing them,” said KIA information officer Col. Naw Bu, according to local news outlet Kachin Waves.
As of Wednesday, the KIA had arrested 38 Myanmar military soldiers.
No exchange of fire was reported on Alaw Bum on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a starving soldier of Myanmar’s military was arrested at Mongsaiyan village near Laiza, the area under the direct control of the KIA’s headquarters, the news outlet said.
“That soldier said they had not eaten any food except banana buds for eight days,” said Col. Naw Bu.
Following the KIA’s refusal to recognize the military regime, clashes have been reported across Kachin State and northern Shan State since March 11. The KIA has attacked military and police outposts and has threatened to step up its attacks if the junta continues to shoot peaceful protesters across the country.
A skirmish was reported near Namya village by Myitkyina-Hpakant road on Wednesday morning. Military convoys came under mine attacks in Kachin State on Tuesday as well.
As the Myanmar military regime continues its deadly crackdowns on protesters and armed resistance in border areas grows, the United Nations’ top human rights official has voiced fears that the country could descend into a “full-blown conflict” as seen in Syria, and urged member states to take immediate measures against the regime.
The Southeast Asian nation has been under military rule since February, and seen nationwide protests against the men in uniform. The regime has killed more than 700 civilians, including children, so far in its attempts to crush the protests, using live rounds and powerful explosives like rifle grenades.
“There are clear echoes of Syria in 2011. There too, we saw peaceful protests met with unnecessary and clearly disproportionate force,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.
“I fear the situation in Myanmar is heading towards a full-blown conflict. States must not allow the deadly mistakes of the past in Syria and elsewhere to be repeated,” she added.
The brutal, persistent repression by the Assad regime of Syria against its own people led some to take up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly expanding spiral of violence across the country.
In Myanmar today, due to the regime’s deadly crackdowns, once-peaceful anti-regime protesters are now in favor of armed resistance.
In the country’s north, east and south, ethnic armed groups that have been waging wars against the military to secure autonomy for decades recently launched attacks on regime troops in their areas, causing heavy casualties to the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military). They said they were not happy with the regime’s bloody attacks on civilians.
Internationally, the regime has been opposed since the coup. Targeted sanctions against the regime leadership and their families have been imposed. Despite individual calls to take serious action, such as invoking the “responsibility to protect”, or R2P, principle against the junta, nothing has happened. At the UN Security Council, the regime’s allies China and Russia have blocked efforts by member states to make collective decisions to solve the crisis in Myanmar.
Bachelet said on Tuesday that statements of condemnation, and limited targeted sanctions, were clearly not enough.
“States with influence need to urgently apply concerted pressure on the military in Myanmar to halt the commission of grave human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity,” she said.
News (5)
Myanmar military kill Gurkha couple near India
A husband and wife were shot dead by forces of Myanmar’s military regime Tuesday in Tamu, a town in Myanmar’s northwest along the border with India.
The area has been under the control of soldiers and police since Saturday after a violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters there.
Kishan Gotamay (Goutam), in his late 40s, and his wife Harimaya Gotamay, in her late 30s, were on their motorbike and on their way back from collecting cow’s milk when they were shot at Pahe Bridge in Tamu, according to local residents. Both are Gurkha.
Their family was contacted by police before noon and funerals were conducted within hours, said a relative, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We were looking for them as they were late coming home in the morning. They went to pick up the cow-milk from their farm to sell in the wards,” she said.
The relative said that normally the couple returned home within 30 minutes to an hour. But when they did not arrive on time on Tuesday morning, family members searched for them.
“But we could not go very far away outside given the current situation. We only learned about their deaths when the police contacted us at around 11:30 a.m.,” said the relative.
The relative said the husband was shot in his cheek and the wife was shot in the back.
Their bodies were taken back home and funerals were held quickly on Tuesday afternoon before 5 p.m.
“At least, the family got the chance to see their bodies before the funeral,” said the relative.
Junta forces raided Tamu town Saturday and destroyed the fortified barricades set up by anti-regime protesters. The residents have been unable to hold protests for three days. Residents said the soldiers have taken control of the town, patrolling the streets and searching everyone they encounter.
A resident told The Irrawaddy that he saw about 50 soldiers patrolling the ward where the shooting occurred. They were destroying roadblocks as well as checking people and firing their guns on Tuesday.
“When we heard the shooting, we also ran and hid in nearby forests and only came back home in the afternoon,” said Ko Kyaw (not his real name) who lives near the bridge.
“We are scared and feel unsafe. We also worry for our family’s safety,” he said, adding that the junta forces had been destroying other wards for the past three days and turned into his ward today.
On Monday, a seven-year-old girl was hit and about 200 residents fled from their homes when regime forces raided the town and randomly fired their weapons.
As of Monday, there were 710 civilian deaths, documented by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The number of civilians killed by regime forces since the Feb. 1 coup was at least 713 by Tuesday morning.
Some of those fleeing their homes in Tamu are taking shelter in India’s Manipur state, as Tamu is the border town with Manipur state’s Moreh town, another resident told The Irrawaddy.
The town has been defending itself with improvised arms and explosives against the military regime forces for more than two weeks following the death of a peaceful protester on March 26.
The junta forces have arrested at least three people, Ko Hlaing Moe, Ko Aung Than and Ko Aye Chan, according to residents.
A member of the resistance force in Tamu said police arrested five youths who are not part of their movement.
“They [security forces] covered the heads of five youths with cloths and tied their hands behind the back. They were beaten and taken. We don’t know where they were taken,” said the Tamu resident.
For updated news on Myanmar, ref: www.irrawaddy.com
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