Myanmar’s junta has removed its chief of Eastern Command along with a Light Infantry Division commander following military defeats in Karenni (Kayah) State, according to sources.
Eastern Command chief Major-General Hla Moe has been transferred to a reserve force and replaced by Major-General Zaw Min Latt, commandant of the National Defense College. Hla Moe is from the Defense Services Academy 37th intake.
The commander of the 66th Light Infantry Division responsible for military operations in Karenni State was meanwhile forced into retirement, according to sources.
The purges come amid a wave of setbacks for the junta in Karenni State, where allied resistance forces say they have advanced into the state capital of Loikaw after inflicting heavy casualties on junta troops.
Karenni resistance forces launched Operation 1111 in November to support the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 offensive as it spread from northern Shan State.
The alliance’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) captured the northern Shan capital of Laukkai on Jan. 5 after six junta brigadier generals surrendered.
The six generals, who include Laukkai Regional Operations Command chief Brig-Gen Moe Kyaw Thu and junta-appointed Kokang administration chief Brig-Gen Tun Tun Myint, have been detained by the junta in Naypyitaw and are likely to face punishment under martial law, a military source familiar with the matter told The Irrawaddy.
The mass surrender came three weeks after the alliance’s Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) captured Brig-Gen Min Min Tun, chief of the 101st Light Infantry Division, in its attack on a hilltop command base in Namhsan, northern Shan State.
The Brotherhood Alliance has now seized 16 towns in northern Shan State since launching Operation 1027 on Oct. 27.
Meanwhile, the director of the junta’s Security Print Works, Major-General Htin Kyaw Thu, has been transferred to the post of deputy minister at the Office of the State Administration Council, the governing body of the regime.
The Security Print Works has been under pressure to churn out more banknotes amid a sharp contraction of the economy and resulting cash crunch since the coup in 2021.
