A motorcade carrying two Yangon Region ministers of the military regime was reportedly attacked by civilian resistance groups in Hmawbi Township, known locally as the Hmawbi cantonment area, on Tuesday.
Hmawbi hosts more than a dozen military sites including infantry and artillery units, an air base and military training schools, but the township has also seen heavy anti-regime resistance activity since the Feb. 1 coup.
The Hmawbi Township People’s Defense Force and the Hmawbi Offspring Force said they jointly attacked the motorcade using remotely detonated mines near an intersection in the township.
Junta-appointed Yangon Region Economic Minister U Aung Than Oo, Resource Minister U Zaw Win and some businessmen were reportedly traveling in the motorcade. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm those reports.
“We chose a location to make sure civilians were not harmed in the attack. We let the two vehicles taking point pass and attacked the vehicle that we assumed was carrying the ministers. Their vehicle collided with another vehicle as well as the guardrail. But we still can’t confirm casualties,” a resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy.
The junta-appointed ministers’ plan to visit the township was revealed when the management committee of the Myaung Dagar Steel Mill Industrial Zone in Hmawbi Township on Dec. 8 instructed factory owners to clean the fronts of the factories as well as remove bushes along the road, saying that Yangon Region ministers were scheduled to visit the industrial zone in the second week of December.
The two resistance groups said they oppose any investors who would work hand in glove with the junta and exploit the natural resources and workers of the country.
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