The anti-junta guerrilla group Inya Urban Force (IUF), which assassinated a pro-regime former general in Yangon last month, has vowed to fight on despite seeing 10 of its members arrested.
The military regime announced it had detained the IUF personnel in the first week of October after the group assassinated six people in Yangon, including ex-Brigadier General Ohn Thwin and his son-in-law ex-Captain Ye Tayza on September 24. The junta said all six targets were “innocent civilians”.
Ohn Thwin had denounced democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and openly celebrated on Facebook when anti-regime protesters were targeted in junta crackdowns last year.
He was a leading member of the Myanmar War Veterans Association, which is currently a source of recruits for the regime in its military operations to crush armed resistance, and was also said to be the mentor of regime No. 2, Soe Win.
Three of the 10 IUF members arrested were women.
According to the regime’s statement, the IUF also assassinated Daw Hnin Hnin Hlaing, a 100-household administrator from Kyimyindaing Township, where junta personnel had rammed and shot anti-regime protesters in a crackdown that killed five people and left many injured.
Hnin Hnin Hlaing was reportedly an informant for regime forces, delivering information on anti-junta protesters.
The regime statement said the IUF also assassinated a 100-household administrator in Sanchaung township in December and an individual in North Dagon Township in February. The latter target was reportedly also former military officer.
The IUF then killed an army major and his colleague in Lanmadaw Township in April, followed by a pro-regime Ward Administrator from Botahtaung Township in July, the regime said.
In a statement, the IUF admitted its members had been arrested and said their lives were now in danger, along with the security of the group as a whole.
However, the IUF said it managed to inform other members that their identities may have been uncovered, allowing them to escape to areas controlled by ethnic armed groups. It also vowed to continue the fight to free Yangon and end military dictatorship.
