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Five resistance fighters killed, five civilians missing after clash with junta forces west of Khin-U

April 21, 2023/in News

The Myin Daung village defence team reportedly encountered soldiers preparing to raid another village in western Khin-U Township, Sagaing Region, and lost five members in the ensuing fight Five members of a local defence force were killed and five villagers went missing after the resistance fighters fought an advancing military column in southern Sagaing Region […]

Health centre built by Japanese donors targeted, destroyed in Myanmar army raid in Myaing

April 21, 2023/in News

Staff from the facility, set up in 2014 as a rural development initiative of the Japanese government, are arrested by the military and the building left riddled with bullet holes More than 20 people were taken hostage this week in a Myanmar army raid on a Magway Region health facility once built by the Japanese […]

Five resistance fighters killed, five civilians missing after clash with junta forces west of Khin-U

April 21, 2023/in News

Health centre built by Japanese donors targeted, destroyed in Myanmar army raid in Myaing

April 21, 2023/in News

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Five resistance fighters killed, five civilians missing after clash with junta forces west of Khin-U

April 21, 2023/in News

The Myin Daung village defence team reportedly encountered soldiers preparing to raid another village in western Khin-U Township, Sagaing Region, and lost five members in the ensuing fight

Five members of a local defence force were killed and five villagers went missing after the resistance fighters fought an advancing military column in southern Sagaing Region on Wednesday.

According to the Khin-U Special Force Organisation (KSO), a locally based defence force, some 140 junta soldiers advanced east into Khin-U Township from Ye-U, located across the Mu River. The Myin Daung village defence force intercepted between the villages of Myin Daung and Mya Kan shortly thereafter.

A Lin Yaung, leader of the Myin Daung village defence force, said members of his group were on their way back from setting up explosive devices when they encountered junta forces initiating a raid on Mya Kan.

“We were deployed in two separate spots and three junta columns were preparing to raid Mya Kan village. We tried to fight them off but we lost our troops because of the disadvantage in firepower,” A Lin Yaung told Myanmar Now.

“We used explosives first, when the military dogs arrived at the minefield,” A Lin Yaung said, referring to the soldiers. “We tried to keep them back as they marched further, but we only had two rifles, so we were outmatched.”

The deceased, all members of the local defence force of Myin Daung village, were identified as Kyaw Naing, Phoe Kyaw and Moe Hein, all in their 20s; Tayoke Gyi, 46; and Ko Naung, 40.

Two of the missing civilians were identified as Sein Myo Tin and Aung Kyaw Lwin of Myin Daung. The others are only known to be three men from Mya Kan, according to A Lin Yaung.

The defence teams said that even as they were making funeral preparations, they anticipated having to fight the junta forces again soon.

The bodies of the deceased defence team members (Supplied)

According to a KSO spokesperson, the day before the raid on Mya Kan, a junta convoy consisting of four vehicles and carrying around 100 troops as well as provisions and ammunition for military bases had also entered Khin-U Township from the west. After entering the township on Tuesday, the convoy’s troops started to establish outposts in nearby villages.

“I thought it would be over after they sent supplies yesterday, but another column started raiding villages this morning,” a KSO spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Close to 10,000 civilians from some 20 villages have been displaced by junta raids in western Khin-U Township, according to a Khin-U Township People’s Defence Team spokesperson.

Local resistance forces said they could not give precise estimates of the damage the military had sustained from attacks by anti-junta village defence teams.

As of Wednesday afternoon, junta troops are stationed in Kyun Lel village, some five miles south of Myin Daung, with local defence teams anticipating that they would move soon.

Myanmar Now News

Health centre built by Japanese donors targeted, destroyed in Myanmar army raid in Myaing

April 21, 2023/in News

Staff from the facility, set up in 2014 as a rural development initiative of the Japanese government, are arrested by the military and the building left riddled with bullet holes

More than 20 people were taken hostage this week in a Myanmar army raid on a Magway Region health facility once built by the Japanese government as a rural development initiative.

Using helicopters, the military opened fire on Ma Gyi Kan village on Tuesday, 17 miles north of the administrative centre of Myaing Township. The troops centred their attack on the local centre, which had a 50-patient capacity and a labour and delivery room for expecting mothers.

An x-ray machine valued at 50m kyat (nearly US$24,000) was destroyed in the assault and the walls of the building were riddled with bullet holes, a local staff member managing the site said. By Thursday, he told Myanmar Now that the structure had nearly collapsed due to the damage from gun and artillery fire.

While the Ma Gyi Kan community had been operating the health centre on their own since November 2021 in the aftermath of the military coup, Myanmar Now has learned that the site was built with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency—the development arm of the Japanese government—nearly 10 years ago. Since then, locals had expanded it, and even built bunkers in which they could seek shelter from airstrikes.

“The building was donated by the Japanese,” the managing staff member explained. “It wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if the military had destroyed the annexes built by the community, but I feel very sorry that they destroyed a building donated especially for us by a foreign country.”

He noted that an inscription on the structure commemorated it as a rural development project endorsed by Japan, and said that there were similar health facilities in other Myaing Township villages. Among them were Kan Net, Lim Ka Taw and Kyauk Sauk.

At the time that the regime soldiers attacked the site, there were patients from Ma Gyi Kan and the surrounding villages undergoing treatment, including more than a dozen pregnant women preparing to give birth.

“Most patients did not dare to go to the city, so that’s why we had opened this facility, despite the risks [of a junta attack],” the staff member said. He added that no one with a weapon was allowed to enter its premises, but that they would provide treatment to anyone in need, including junta soldiers, if they respected this rule.

The military council issued a statement on Wednesday confirming the attack on Ma Gyi Kan and claimed that members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) were hiding there and storing weapons in the facility. They said that grenades, missiles and ammunition were seized from the health centre, along with three cars and five motorcycles.

Ten men and 20 women were captured in the raid, the junta said, alleging that the individuals had ties to or were part of the PDF.

The managing staff member who spoke to Myanmar Now rejected the statement as false, noting that those captured by the junta were villagers and medical staff and that no weapons were confiscated at the health centre. Any arms that were seized were taken from a PDF camp located outside of Ma Gyi Kan, he added.

“They are lying that guns were found at the health centre,” he said. “No one was allowed to carry weapons inside the compound.”

Around 300 people, including patients, caregivers, locals and health workers were initially rounded up by the soldiers at the facility. The occupying soldiers stayed in Ma Gyi Kan until Thursday before leaving for Myaing town, forcing one woman and 20 men to accompany them, according to Cross, a leader of the local PDF chapter.

During the raid on Ma Gyi Kan, a 16-year-old boy was shot dead, Cross said.

Myanmar Now was unable to verify the victim’s identity at the time of reporting.

The base camp of the Myaing PDF, located outside of Ma Gyi Kan village, is seen after coming under attack by the junta (Supplied)

He confirmed that the troops had overrun the PDF’s base camp outside of the village after attacking the health centre and setting fire to four homes.

Ammunition, communications equipment, and other property totalling more than 150m kyat (more than $71,000) in value were lost in the assault on their post, Cross said.

Myanmar Now News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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