Dozens of junta troops and regime-appointed ward administrators were reportedly killed in Yangon in the first week of 2022, as several People’s Defense Forces (PDF) escalated their attacks on military regime targets.
Yangon experienced few attacks for most of last month, following the arrest of dozens of people in mid-November for allegedly conducting deadly attacks on junta targets.
But since the last week of December, resistance forces have stepped up their activities again. Yangon residents have been urged by PDF’s to stay away from junta forces and to avoid regime-controlled government offices because they may be attacked.
On Friday morning, Urban Phoenix Force, a local PDF, reportedly detonated a remote-controlled bomb at a police housing block. The attack was a warning to police and their families to not work for the regime and instead stand with the people defying military rule.
At least two regime soldiers were killed in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township on Thursday morning when the Spring Revolution Flames (SRF) resistance group attacked seven troops who were checking and seizing the motorbikes of residents, according to the SRF.
The group said that their resistance fighters escaped from the scene without casualties. The SRF also attempted to blow up the house of a junta-appointed ward administrator in No. 3 ward in Hlaing Tharyar. However, the bomb failed to explode. Five local residents were beaten and detained by junta forces shortly after the failed attack, while the SRF fighters escaped.
Another resistance group claimed to have attacked regime forces and regime-appointed ward administrators at an office in Hlaing Tharyar on Tuesday with a homemade bomb. The PDF claimed that there were many casualties.
The same group said it also bombed a regime-owned garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar on December 31.
Early Thursday morning, a combined force of several PDF’s attacked 30 junta soldiers deployed at a football pitch in North Okkalapa Township with an M79 grenade launcher.
A video shows a resistance fighter firing three rounds from the grenade launcher at the regime forces. There were at least 10 junta casualties from the attack, the group said.
On Tuesday night, another combined force used a remote-controlled mine to attack troops who were inspecting the aftermath of an explosion near Mahlwagone train station in Tamwe Township.
Three regime soldiers were reportedly killed and some wounded, said the Hmawbi Revolution Force, who organized the attack.
A combined force from Mayangone and Insein Townships claimed to have killed four junta-appointed ward administrators and injured two soldiers when they bombed a ward administration office in Shwepyithar Township on Sunday night. During the attack, some civilians and a resistance fighter were injured by junta gunfire, the group said.
Last Friday evening, a junta police captain was killed and a soldier wounded when an unknown group raided the North Okkalapa Township police station. Some civilians were killed and two vehicles damaged when regime forces randomly opened fire.
Many other attacks targeting military vehicles and government offices, including electricity offices, police stations and revenue departments, were also reported in Insein, Thingangyun, Dawbon and Thaketa townships and in areas of downtown Yangon.
At least three people accused of being junta informants, including a ward administrator, were killed this week in Dawbon and Mayangone townships.
With the exception of Rakhine State, the military regime is facing attacks across the country from PDFs and many ethnic armed groups.
The junta has escalated its atrocities including arrests, torture, burning people alive, arbitrary killings, taking hostages, massacres, bombarding residential areas, looting and burning houses and employing sexual violence, especially in Magwe and Sagaing regions and Chin, Shan, Kayah and Karen states, the areas where the Myanmar military is facing the most intense resistance.
You may also like these stories:
No News About Pro-Democracy Broadcaster’s Family Held by Myanmar Junta
Yangon Vehicle Ramming Commander Honored by Myanmar Junta Leader
Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Clash With TNLA
