Major General Than Htike, commander of Northwestern Command based in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region, is being detained and interrogated by the military regime at its administrative capital Naypyitaw, according to military sources.
The reason for his detention is not yet known.
The major general was arrested three days after a combined resistance force seized and destroyed a police station at Nyaung Pin Gyi village, Salingyi Township, just a few miles from the Northwest Command base.
The Northwestern Command covers Sagaing as well as neighboring Magwe Region and Chin State.
Just before the raid on the police station, fellow resistance group Zero Guerrilla Force, aka Battalion 7 of the Myingyan District People’s Defense Force under the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), made a daring visit to the junta-occupied town of Sar Taung in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region. Regime forces retreated to their bunkers at the township police station as the resistance members toured the town.
News of both incidents went viral online, spurring an outcry among even the military’s supporters that regime leaders and heads of Northwestern Command had lost control in the struggle against resistance forces in Sagaing Region.
An officer from the Northwestern Command revealed on Tuesday that Major Than Htike had been taken to Naypyitaw by helicopter on Monday.
“We are not sure whether this is related to the resistance attacks on military bases and police stations or some kind of disobedience. We only know that he was taken for interrogation,” the officer said.
Another source from Naypyitaw told The Irrawaddy that the major general has been placed under house arrest and is being interrogated at hut 3 in barracks near Napyitaw Military Command headquarters.
The junta has reportedly jailed several miliary officers including at the battalion commander level for refusing to fight against resistance forces.
The regime has also replaced senior military officers who failed to perform their duties.
Before being promoted to his post as Northwestern commander in January 2022, Than Hitke served on the General Staff of the Naypyitaw Military Headquarters.
The man he replaced as Northwest commander, Major General Phyo Thant, was moved to become deputy ministry of Border Affairs.
The regime assigned one of its most notorious commanders, Lieutenant General Than Hlaing to the Northwestern command in October 2021 to lead a scorched-earth campaign against villages and resistance forces in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State. After only four months, he was also removed from his post. Upper Myanmar under Northwestern Command remains the most restive part of the country.
