Coordinated drone and rocket attacks on junta targets in Myanmar’s second-largest city – including Mandalay Palace, which houses the military’s Central Command – have unnerved junta forces, residents say.
“They used to feel safe, now they don’t,” a member of the resistance drone group Drop for Justice said.
Security has been tightened, civilians have been arrested and troops have conducted raids in villages nearby following the drone attacks on multiple targets on the night of Dec. 20 followed by attacks with homemade rockets at about 2 a.m. on Dec. 21, residents said.
“They are arresting people in response to attacks on Mandalay Palace and police stations. Those arrested are civilians and have nothing to do with the revolution,” a member of the Mandalay District People’s Defense Team said.
“No members of revolutionary forces have been arrested so far,” he added.
The Drop for Justice member said: “They are acting like a mad dog [by] making arbitrary arrests and raiding places they consider suspicious since we attacked Mandalay Palace.”
The early morning Dec. 20 attacks were part of Operation Shwe Pyi Soe – an effort to drive junta forces out of Mandalay. Combined resistance forces based in the city, including Drop for Justice, carried out simultaneous drone attacks on three police stations, Obo Prison, and the houses of the commander and deputy commanders of Central Command, a military police unit in Mandalay Palace and Yadanabon Hall, which is owned by the family of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
The regime was quick to respond with arrests. Three young people were arrested in Amarapura Township on Dec. 21, and five more the next day: two in Maha Aung Myay Township and three in Chanmyathazi Township. Junta troops detained four more young people on Sunday in Maha Aung Myay Township, according to resistance forces and Voice of Mandalay, a media outlet.
The attacks were carried out by Drop for Justice with support from Brave Warriors for Myanmar, No More Dictatorship, the Mandalay Security and Special Task Force and Pyin Oo Lwin District People’s Defense Team.
Six 107 mm homemade rockets were used to attack Mandalay Palace on the morning of Dec. 21, according to Brave Warriors for Myanmar.
Junta troops have tightened security across the town and some soldiers are patrolling in plain clothes, Mandalay residents said.
“Junta troops tighten checks whenever there are attacks in the town. It has become normal. But the checks are tighter these days. We heard that at least 10 people, most of them young men, were arrested,” one resident said.
Pro-junta Telegram channels have dismissed resistance attacks on Mandalay Palace and police stations as fake news, saying the regime arrested at least 10 suspects who were merely plotting to attack regime targets in the city.
Junta troops also began raiding villages near the city after the attacks. About 100 regime troops began targeted villages along the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy River in Patheingyi and Madaya townships – about 2.5 kilometers from Mandalay City – following the drone attacks, residents said.
“Junta troops are raiding villages where they think the rockers were fired from or resistance fighters came from and attacked them. They have searched villages, and even checked the mobile phones of suspects. [However] there are still no reports of villagers being arrested,” the member of Mandalay District PDT said:
Junta troops have torched homes during raids of at least 10 villages in the west of Madaya Township. The raids have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.
