More than 40 junta personnel including an election official and military commanders were killed in a series of attacks by resistance groups this past weekend.
Between April 21 and 23, a high-ranking election official and former officer was killed in Yangon while four serving military officers died in clashes on the frontline, according to media reports and resistance groups’ announcements.
Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director-general of the Union Election Commission (UEC) and a former Lieutenant Colonel, was shot dead by For The Yangon, an urban guerrilla force resisting the junta, on April 22. The junta confirmed the attack, saying the killing was carried out by anti-regime forces.
Sai Kyaw Thu was the right-hand man of U Thein Soe, chair of the junta-appointed UEC. He played a key role as a witness in the military regime’s prosecution of civilian President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
On the same day as Sai Kyaw Thu was assassinated in Yangon, an army major and four people in his entourage were shot dead when the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF) raided a karaoke joint in Hpakant, Kachin State.
Those killed were Major Zaw Maung, aka Zaw Hmine, his girlfriend, a police officer and his wife, and two local jade businessmen, according to a resistance statement that included a photograph of Major Zaw Maung.
“Major Zaw Maung is from Division 33. He was corrupt and made a lot of money from his involvement in the jade mining business a couple of years ago,” said a source close to the KIA in Hpakant.
While more officers are being targeted in urban areas, junta forces have also suffered heavy casualties in recent clashes with the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), Ethnic Revolution Organizations (EROs), and PDFs on the frontline. The fatalities are known to include many officers.
On April 21, Pyi District People’s Defense Force (PPDF) ambushed a military convoy near Paungde Township in Pyi District, Bago Region, killing a captain and two soldiers and critically injuring an army major and two others, according to PPDF.
Meanwhile, the junta lost 21 troops in clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied PDF allied forces in Kyauk Kyi Township, Bago Region on April 22, according to a resistance statement. Among those killed was a Deputy Commander, whose army ID card was released along with the statement.
“We launched attacks on Yan Gyi Aung, Nyaung Kone, Naung Kone and Kyun Sakhan outposts of the military council [junta]. We killed at least 21 junta troops, including the deputy commander of the battalion,” said a member of the Spring Warriors column under the KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union.
On the same day, a clash broke out between junta forces and the PDF on the border of Nawnghkio and Pyin Oo Lwin Townships, leading to the death of a battalion commander and other regime troops.
An army ID card found on his body identified Lieutenant Colonel Myat Min Tun as the commander of Infantry Battalion 147. He was killed as he attempted to escape the PDF by driving to his battalion’s tactical position.
On April 23, an allied force of Dawei District PDF Battalion 1, Drone Squad, DGRF, Mine Force PDF, and other resistance groups launched an attack on two military checkpoints in Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region, killing at least 15 junta troops, including another battalion commander.
“The name of the officer killed in that attack is Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Thu Swe, who was the commander of Light Infantry Battalion 406. Many of us were injured too but we achieved our aim of eliminating several soldiers including an officer,” said a member of Dawei PDF (DGRF).
