Weekly Update : 23-29 May 2022

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The humanitarian crisis in #Myanmar is worsening every day. As the monsoon rains begin, the plight of civilians desperately attempting to reach safety has become more dangerous and high-risk. The international community must respond to the humanitarian crisis with funds through cross-border aid actors and organizations and through legitimate stakeholders including the National Unity Government.

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Myanmar Junta Torches 10 Villages in Two Days in Sagaing

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Myanmar’s regime launched airstrikes on and torched 10 villages in five townships in Sagaing Region over the weekend, displacing thousands of civilians.

Airstrikes targeted Myaung Township on Sunday after people’s defense forces (PDFs) attacked junta troops at Ta Ma Say village.

Ko Nway Oo, the head of the Civil Defense Security Organization Myaung, said a helicopter arrived after 10 regime soldiers were killed.

“The helicopter hovered above the village three times then soldiers shot where they thought people were hiding,” he said.

A resistance fighter was killed during the clash and four were lightly wounded.

Regime troops then set over 100 houses on fire in Za Yet Gone village, which had over 1,000 houses, and burned homes in Ma Kyee Kan village.

At least five villages in Ayadaw Township and one in Tabayin (also known as Depayin) Township were torched by soldiers over the weekend, residents said.

Civilians from northern Ayadaw fled their homes to avoid raids by more than 100 soldiers.

Around 200 houses in Lae Ngauk village, Yinmabin Township, were burned down by regime soldiers on Saturday.

Buddhist monk Shwe Sanpin Sayardaw Ashin Wai Pon La from Yinmabin asked the regime to stop burning civilian houses as more than 2,000 houses had been burned down in Yinmabin and Pale townships.

“It takes villagers at least 10 years to build a house. Now they were reduced to ashes in minutes,” the monk said.

His Shwe Sanpin monastic school is sheltering more than 500 refugees.

Regime troops also raided Thayatkone village in Khin-U Township, firing artillery after reportedly being informed that it harbored resistance forces, according to Bo Thanmani, the head of Khin-U PDF.

Troops burned nearly 80 houses in the village.

Irrawaddy News

Six civilians used as human shields found dead near Myaing village

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The victims were among at least 40 villagers captured by junta soldiers advancing through the area in recent weeks

The bodies of six civilians who were captured by regime forces earlier this month were discovered near a village in Magway Region’s Myaing Township last week.

The victims, who were among 40 villagers taken hostage and used as human shields by soldiers who began advancing through the area on May 13, were found last Thursday, according to the commander of a local People’s Defence Force (PDF) battalion.

All six bodies were found near each other on the edge of a forest a short distance north of the village of Kyauk Khwet, in southern Myaing Township, Lt Let Ya of the Myaing PDF told Myanmar Now.

“Six of the villagers who were being held as hostages are dead. The junta troop captured the elderly and others who could not run,” he said.

“We often attack troops with explosives, so that’s why they took the villagers prisoner,” he added.

Each of the dead villagers showed signs of physical abuse, including broken bones, and all had been shot at close range, according to Let Ya.

“There were gunshot wounds to their ears, and some had been shot in the mouth,” he said.

The victims, who were all men between the ages of 25 and 50, are believed to be from the villages of Than Chaung, Kyauk Khwet, Bawton and Baunt Bin, all located along the border between Myaing and Pauk townships.

Only one victim, 25-year-old Kyauk Khwet resident Kyaw Ye, could be positively identified by name.

He was found lying face up with bullet wounds to the head and thigh, according to Let Ya. He also had a lit cigarette held lightly between his lips, the PDF commander added.

A military column of around 170 regime troops has been been moving through southern Myaing Township since the middle of the month. According to residents, thousands have fled their homes to avoid capture by the junta forces. 

On May 14 and 15, soldiers also fired on the villages of Letyatma and Padauk Kan, in the northern part of the township, with heavy artillery and light weapons. Hundreds of homes were set on fire, and at least three villagers were shot dead in the raids, local sources reported.

Myanmar’s junta routinely denies targeting civilians in its offensives against anti-regime resistance forces, despite numerous reports of such attacks.

As in other conflict areas, the regime has severed most telephone and internet connections to much of Myaing Township.

Myanmar Now News

Lawyer facing life sentence on terror charges sent to Obo Prison

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Ywet Nu Aung was being held inside one of Myanmar’s most notorious interrogation centres prior to her transfer to the prison

A lawyer who was charged last month under Myanmar’s anti-terror law for allegedly financing an armed resistance group was transferred to Mandalay’s Obo Prison on Thursday.

Ywet Nu Aung, a prominent lawyer who has represented a number of high-profile clients, had been held at the Mandalay Palace interrogation centre since her arrest on April 27.

Despite that facility’s reputation for mistreatment of prisoners, she appeared to be in good physical condition, a source close to the lawyer told Myanmar Now.

“She’s in good health, but she lost some weight,” said the source.

Ywet Nu Aung was arrested last month following a hearing at Obo Prison for Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, the ousted chief minister of Mandalay Region and vice-chair of the deposed ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

She was later charged under Section 50j of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The charge stems from claims made by Myanmar’s regime that a treasurer for a Mandalay-based armed resistance group had confessed to receiving money from Ywet Nu Aung.

The source close to the lawyer said that she would conduct her own defence. 

“She won’t be acquiring another lawyer. She said she would represent herself,” said the source.

Ywet Nu Aung, 43, is a central executive committee member of the Mandalay Region branch of the NLD. In addition to defending Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, she has also represented Win Mya Mya, the vice chair of the Mandalay Region NLD party.

She was also the lawyer for “Victoria,” a preschool student who was sexually assaulted in Naypyitaw in 2019, in a case that sparked national outrage. 

Another client was Swe Win, the editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, in a defamation case laid against him by Mandalay-based ultranationalists. Ywet Nu Aung faced threats from the same ultranationalists for her involvement in the case.

According to prison sources, a hearing was also held for Ywet Nu Aung on Thursday. Details were not available at the time of reporting.

Myanmar Now News

Elderly man killed in northwestern Myanmar after junta artillery shell hits his home

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Unable to flee with the other residents, the 70-year-old man was left behind as a military convoy assaulted villages along a road through Sagaing’s Khin-U Township

A 70-year-old man was killed on Wednesday after the military fired both heavy and light weapons into his village in Sagaing Region’s Khin-U Township. 

Kun Thee had been hiding in his house in Kan Thit village when it was hit by an artillery shell at around 7pm, another resident of the community said. 

The rest of the locals already fled as a seven-vehicle junta convoy travelling through Khin-U—en route from Shwebo to Ye-U—shot at and raided a number of homes along the road. Residents of some 12 villages, including Kan Thit, were displaced by the assaults.

“The old man couldn’t run, so he stayed behind. He was arrested once before, too,” the Kan Thit villager said, adding that Kun Thee’s son had also been previously arrested and was reportedly in prison at the time of the attack. 

Anti-junta defence forces used improvised explosive devices to intercept the military vehicles at a curve in the road near Kan Thit, locals said, and noted that accompanying the convoy was a new junta-appointed local administrator. 

The Khin-U People’s Defence Force (PDF) released a statement on Wednesday reporting that they and their allies were able to safely withdraw from the battle that followed, and warned residents of Depayin, Khin-U, Taze and Ye-U townships that a major Myanmar army assault on the area could be forthcoming. 

Junta forces have been raiding villages in Khin-U throughout May, and frequently clashed with resistance groups. After such battles, military columns are known to bombard villages in the surrounding area with both heavy and light weapons. 

On May 19, five civilians were killed and 13 more were injured after an artillery shell fired by the military landed on a crowd of internally displaced persons near Tar Taing village in Khin-U Township. They had gathered on the eastern shores of the Muu River and were reportedly watching to see if their village on the opposite side bank—Pauk Thar—would be targeted in arson attacks by junta troops as fighting occurred one mile away in Depayin Township.

According to the monitoring group Data for Myanmar, as of May 1, a total of 11,417 homes had been destroyed in military attacks nationwide, of which some 972 were in Khin-U Township. 

Myanmar Now News

Murders in Yangon and Mandalay linked to Thwe Thout

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Anti-regime forces who killed alleged members of the group last week say they had a hit list of more than 150 intended victims

Attacks targeting supporters of Myanmar’s ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), left at least four people dead in Yangon and Mandalay late last week.

On Thursday, two unidentified gunmen entered a fabric store in Yangon’s Thaketa Township and shot three people at close range. Honey Oo, a 22-year-old physics student, died instantly after being shot twice in the head, sources said.

Her uncle, 40-year-old Ye Naing Aung, later reportedly died of his injuries at a military hospital, while the condition of her mother—who sources did not identify by name—could not be confirmed.

A member of a social welfare group in Thaketa Township told Myanmar Now that the victims were all known to be NLD supporters.

Min Thurein, the information officer for the Eastern Yangon University Student Union, confirmed Honey Oo’s death. He also indicated that Ye Naing Aung appeared to be the primary target of the attack.

“They started shooting at Ye Naing Aung when he came out. When he began to flee in a panic, they proceeded to shoot Honey Oo and her mother,” he said.

Sources also noted that the victims were Muslims and that Ye Naing Aung took part in protests against last year’s coup, which saw the ouster of the country’s elected NLD government.

While no group took responsibility for the attack, it came less than a month after a new pro-junta group calling itself Thwe Thout launched “Operation Red,” a campaign intended to instil terror in opponents of the regime.

Since then, at least 19 murders and abductions have been attributed to the group.

More than half of the victims so far have been in Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, where two more people were killed on Friday.

Mya Mya and her daughter, Khin San Aye, were found dead in their home in Mandalay’s Chanayethazan Township after being murdered and robbed of jewellery, a motorcycle, and more than 3m kyat ($1,600) in cash, according to sources.

A local resident who did not want to be identified said that Mya Mya, who was in her 60s, and her daughter both had their hands tied behind their backs and had been stabbed repeatedly.

They also had lanyards bearing the Thwe Thout logo around their necks, the source said.

In addition to leaving its calling card, the group also posted a message on its Telegram channel justifying the brutal attack, accusing Mya Mya of funding the anti-junta Myaing People’s Defence Force on a monthly basis.

While this claim could not be confirmed, local residents said that Mya Mya and Khin San Aye were vocal supporters of the NLD.
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The body of an alleged Thwe Thout member lies face down on the ground after being killed in an attack by anti-regime forces on May 19 (Supplied)

The body of an alleged Thwe Thout member lies face down on the ground after being killed in an attack by anti-regime forces on May 19 (Supplied)

Meanwhile, on Thursday anti-regime forces in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U Township said they attacked a group of Thwe Thout members suspected of plotting more murders.

The assault, which took place in Auk Nyint, a village about 20km northeast of the town of Nyaung-U, targeted the village’s junta-appointed administrator San Shwe and two members of Thwe Thout from Mandalay, as well as other alleged co-conspirators.

Three members of the group were killed and one was injured, according to a statement released on Friday by an alliance of guerrilla groups that took part in the attack.

More than 300 residents of the village were forced to flee after junta troops arrived a few hours later, the resistance forces said.

The statement also claimed that the alleged Thwe Thout members had a list of more than 150 names of individuals who had been singled out for assassination.

The anti-regime groups said they would not release the list, but had informed those named as potential targets. 

Myanmar Now News