The Myanmar junta lost one more town, two military headquarters and two bases as well as almost 100 troops in the past week as People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.
In one case, an EAO that had signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the junta officially declared war against the regime in southern Shan State.
Incidents were reported in Karenni (Kayah), Shan, Rakhine and Kachin states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions.
The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs.
Some military casualties could not be independently verified.
Karenni resistance forces occupy tin hub Mawchi in Karenni
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) claimed to have taken complete control of Mawchi town in Hpasawng Township, Karenni State on Sunday as regime forces fled all of their bases and headquarters in the town.
The regime forces fled a day after the KNDF attacked and seized two junta bases in the area on Saturday.
During the colonial period, Mawchi was one of the world’s largest centers of tin and tungsten extraction.
Junta battalion HQ seized by Pa-O armed group in southern Shan
The Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) said last Friday that its armed wing the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA) attacked and seized the base of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 424 in Hsihseng Town along with arms and ammunition in southern Shan State.
The ethnic armed group took control of Hsihseng town last week.
The group signed the NCA with the junta military in 2015 and had continued to participate in peace talks since the coup.
However, the ethnic armed group formally declared last Friday that it had exited the peace talks and will join the fight against the junta until the military dictatorship is gone and a federal democratic system is installed for all the people of Myanmar.
The move came after junta aircraft bombed a village in a PNLA-controlled area in Hsihseng in the absence of any clashes last week.
AA occupies another junta battalion HQ in Rakhine
The Brotherhood Alliance of three powerful ethnic armies said its member the Arakan Army (AA) managed to seize the headquarters of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 380 in Minbya Township, Rakhine State on Sunday.
In a failed attempt to defend the base, the junta used aircraft and gunboats to bombard AA troops while reinforcing the base.
The AA widened the Brotherhood Alliance’s major offensive, Operation 1027, to Rakhine State on Nov. 13 last year. Since then, it has seized two towns and over 160 junta bases across northern Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.
After suffering heavy defeats and losses in daily attacks by the AA, the junta has been escalating bombardments of towns and civilian targets in Rakhine State, said the Brotherhood Alliance.
Junta frontline base seized in Kachin
The Kachin Independence Organization said its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) managed to seize the frontline base of the junta’s Infantry Battalion 86 in Taluu Village in Kachin State’s Tanai Township on Sunday after two days of attacks.
The junta conducted airstrikes in a failed attempt to defend the base.
Over 70 junta troops killed in resistance attack in Bago
The headquarters of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) said KNLA Battalion 8 led other resistance groups to attack a military unit that was advancing toward a village near Mone Town in Kyaukkyi Township, Bago Region last Monday, sparking 12 hours of intense fighting.
Mone town is under the control of the KNLA and PDF groups.
During the clash, the resistance groups killed 72 junta forces. Most of the killed troops were police officers and soldiers from a junta engineering unit, the KNLA said.
Junta base seized in Tanintharyi
The Defense Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) said its armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), and KNLA troops under the Karen National Union (KNU) jointly attacked and occupied a junta operations base in Kyaukhtu in Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei Township last Wednesday.
During the raid, 15 junta troops were killed and seven were arrested. There were no resistance casualties.
The resistance groups also seized several weapons and some ammunition from the base.
Junta forces killed in series of clashes in Tanintharyi
The People Defense Organization (Tanintharyi Division) said local PDF groups and the Kawthoolei Army (KTLA), a splinter group of the KNU, jointly raided regime forces stationed at a school in Nyaung Pin Kwin Ashae Kan Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Tanintharyi Township last Wednesday, killing two junta troops and injuring two others.
In the raid, a resistance fighter also suffered injuries.
The next day, Thursday, the combined forces also attacked a military unit of three battalions and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members advancing into Hton Makhar Village in the township. Seven junta troops were killed and 13 injured.
One more clash between a military unit and the joint resistance group broke out in Hton Taw Village in the township last Friday. A junta soldier was killed in the clash, the regional resistance group said.
