Karen rebel forces attack stranded Myanmar junta troops on Thai border

/in

Junta sends in airstrikes to support 200 junta troops trapped by a river across from Mae Sot.

Gunfire, artillery and exploding bombs could be heard early Saturday around Myawaddy, a Myanmar city on the Thai border across from Mae Sot, as an ethnic Karen army closed in on about 200 junta troops stranded near a bridge between the two countries, according to the Thai military and a Radio Free Asia reporter on the scene.

The clash comes after the Karen National Liberation Army, an armed branch of the Karen National Union, on April 10 captured most of the junta’s Infantry Battalion 275 stationed outside of Myawaddy. 

But 200 junta soldiers were left stranded at the customs compound at the No. 2 Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge across the Moei River that links the two countries.

The setback is the latest in a series of battlefield losses suffered by the junta as various rebel groups push the military back across the country amid the country’s three-year civil war that was sparked by the junta’s coup in February 2021.

The clashes started at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Thai soldiers keeping watch along the river and local residents said. The fight centered around the customs house at the bridge as the rebels apparently were intent on wiping out the remaining junta troops, they said.

“The KNU opened the charge first, the junta troops fought back,” a Thai soldier who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity told RFA.

ENG_BUR_KNUJuntaBorderFight_2.JPG
Residents are transported in trucks in Mae Sot, Thailand, as fighting intensifies between rebel and junta forces April 20, 2024. (Pimuk Rakkanam/RFA)

Several days ago, the junta announced “Operation Aung Zeya,” aimed at retaking Myawaddy, a key city on a major trading route with Thailand.

As the sun rose Saturday morning, the Myanmar Air Force deployed several sorties of Y-12, MiG-29 and MI-35 attack helicopters amid periodic exchanges of gunfire. Some residents at the bridge watched the planes with binoculars as a few stray rifle bullets whistled by, prompting them to duck.

Smoke billowed into the sky following each artillery shell and bomb explosion.  

The casualties on both Karen and junta soldiers as well as civilians were not immediately known.

ENG_BUR_KNUJuntaBorderFight_3.JPG
Smoke billows after a junta MiG-29 jet struck a Karen position in Kayin, Myanmar, as seen from Mae Sot, Thailand, April 20, 2024. (Pimuk Rakkanam/RFA)

An ambulance was seen driving in and out of the neighborhood near Thailand’s Yepu Hill overlooking the casinos in Myawaddy.

Several hundred people — mostly from Myanmar — working near the river were moved by truck to a livestock ranch a few kilometers north of the No. 2 bridge for safety. Thai authorities gave them food and medical services. Residents also brought aid to a checkpoint near the shelter. Most media were not allowed to enter the camp

Thailand’s foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation with Thai security agencies on the ground on high alert.

“Thailand has been and will continue to provide further humanitarian assistance if necessary and will do our utmost to ensure the situation along the Thai-Myanmar border area returns to normalcy,” Nikorndej Balankura, the ministry spokesman said in a statement.

RFA News

Carnage Follows Amnesty in Myanmar: Four Prisoners Shot Dead, 12 Injured

/in

Four inmates were shot dead and 12 more were injured after security forces opened fire on prisoners protesting inside Kachin State’s Myitkyina Prison on Thursday, Kachin media reported.

Prisoners were protesting the junta’s amnesty the day, which saw 3,303 prisoners released nationwide to mark Myanmar’s traditional New Year, before they were shot. Only 101 of those who received conditional amnesties on Wednesday were political prisoners.

Staff at Myitkyina Prison first used sling shots to fire projectiles at the prisoners protesting for fairness in the amnesty. The prisoners responded by tossing stones at prison staff, according to Kachin media reports that cited sources closed to the Myitkyina prison department.

Later, prison security forces fired bullets at the protesters, killing four prisoners and injuring 12 more, the Kachin News Group reported.

Prison staff transported the dead and wounded to a hospital on Thursday evening, reports said.

Prisoners are demanding that prison officials take action against security personnel who opened fire on them, for their rights to be protected and for prison amnesties to be fair, Kachin media reports say.

Prisoners are also demanding that no action be taken against those who were not killed in the crackdown.

On Wednesday, around 40 inmates from Myitkyina Prison were released in the amnesty.

They included former Kachin Baptist Convention president Dr. Hkalam Samson. Samson was, however, taken back into custody by junta troops before dawn on Thursday, He was rearrested along with his wife, an official and member of the Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group, according to sources close to the family.

Samson was arrested at Mandalay International Airport by junta troops in December 2022 while waiting to fly to Thailand for medical treatment. In a closed trial, he was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of unlawful association, state defamation and terrorism.

In late March, at least 17 inmates, mostly political prisoners, were injured during a brutal crackdown on unrest at Pyapon Prison in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pyapon Township, according to the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar.

Irrawaddy News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (April 8 to 14, 2024)

/in ,

Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from April 8 to 14, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Kayin State, Mon State, and Kachin State from April 8th to 14th. The head of the Prison who works under the Military threatened, tortured, and blackmailed the political prisoners in Loikaw Prison from Kayah State, Pathein Prison from Ayeyarwady Region, and Shwebo Prison from Sagaing Region and the political prisoners also needed medical treatment. The Military Junta also cut off the phone data and internet line in Myawaddy Township, Kayin State.

Over 10 civilians died, and almost 10 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. 4 underaged children died, and 2 were injured when the Military Junta committed abuses.

Close the Sky

/in ,

In Myanmar, the sky holds monsters that tear families apart.

Here is a video of Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein and her team to support the campaign on jet fuel, don’t hesitate to share.

Gang Rape Victim Among 179 Rakhine Civilians Killed by Myanmar Junta in Four Months: ULA      

/in

Around 180 civilians have been killed and more than 460 wounded in arbitrary attacks by Myanmar junta troops in Rakhine State over the past four months, according to the United League of Arakan (ULA)’s Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office (HDCO).

The ethnic Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the ULA, launched a large-scale offensive against the junta in northern Rakhine and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State on Nov. 13 last year, seizing around 170 junta bases including command centers, and occupying around 10 towns.

Junta forces have responded by indiscriminately targeting civilians with deadly violence in the conflict zone.

The HDCO said in its recent humanitarian situation report that 179 civilians – 115 males and 64 females – were killed between Nov. 13 and March 24. Another 468 residents were injured in junta attacks, the report said.

Moreover, regime forces arrested 471 civilians, 424 of them men, during the same period, it added.

Clashes between regime troops and the ethnic army over the past four months also displaced another 295,868 people from their homes.

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rakhine and Paletwa now exceeds 358,200, according to the report.

The HDCO said that around 80 percent of the IDP population requires emergency humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, displaced civilians are still being targeted by junta airstrikes, drone attacks, and artillery shelling even in the stable central belt of Rakhine, the office said.

On March 18, a junta aircraft bombed the Muslim village of Thada in Minbya Township, killing 21 villagers and injuring 25 others. The village had earlier been taken by the AA.

Regime forces killed a total of 30 civilians during clashes with the AA in Minbya Township from Nov. 13 to Jan. 23, the HDCO said.

Junta troops also killed the parents of a female villager in Minbya before gang-raping and then murdering her, according to the confession of a soldier detained by the AA.

Detained regime officers have also confessed to arbitrary killings of civilian detainees and destruction of infrastructure in the state.

Irrawaddy News