Two days before last week’s surprise resistance drone attack on regime targets in Naypyitaw, Vice Senior General Soe Win was at the Ba Htoo military academy in southern Shan State meeting with officers and rank-and-file troops.
As army chief, Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win makes regular visits to military command centers and schools to boost morale.
According to the junta’s state news media, Soe Win, who holds the positions of Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council and Deputy Defense Services Commander-in-Chief (Army), met with infantry platoon commander trainees and officer cadets in the Aung San Hall of the Tatmadaw (Army) Combat Training School (Ba Htoo) on the morning of Tuesday, April 2 and delivered a speech.
On April 4, anti-junta forces launched an unprecedented drone attack on military targets in Naypyitaw. Resistance drone units targeted junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s residence, the regime’s military headquarters and a major airbase in the administrative capital.
The National Unity Government (NUG) said its People’s Defense Force carried out a synchronized, coordinated attack on key targets in the city, the citadel of the junta’s armed forces. It said the operation involved 28 drones attacking three targets in an operation that took nearly five months to prepare.
The strikes damaged the Aye Lar military airbase next to Naypyitaw International Airport, and Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win and his team reportedly rushed back to Naypyitaw from Ba Htoo.
And if resistance reports are to be believed, just days later he had an opportunity to experience a drone attack first hand. On April 8, resistance forces launched drone attacks on the headquarters of the Myanmar military’s Southeastern Command in Mawlamyine, Mon State while Soe Win was visiting the base. The visit was not announced in state-run newspapers or television.
Resistance forces claimed they used two kamikaze drones to attack the headquarters at approximately 5:10 p.m. on April 8, while Soe Win and other senior officers were holding an operational meeting there.
Since then, rumors and unconfirmed reports have circulated constantly, claiming that Soe Win and some other senior officers were injured in the attack. Regime opponents have gleefully shared the reports, but there has been no concrete confirmation from high-level political opposition groups. Was Soe Win hurt in the drone attack? Or is the opposition just sharing false news, as they have in the past?
Two days later, on Wednesday, SAC spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told BBC Burmese Service that Soe Win continued to perform his security and defense duties.
However, he did not say where the army chief was, or if he had returned to Naypyitaw from Mon State. Soe Win did not appear in the news on Thursday, and Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun has kept quiet. If Soe Win was injured or even killed, the news can’t be kept secret in Myanmar, where people are quick to share rumors, gossip and news—false or otherwise.
But the rumors don’t end there. Claims have long circulated that Soe Win loyalists are at loggerheads with the inner circle of junta boss Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Hearing such rumors, one can’t help but wonder if Soe Win’s most dangerous foe might be the “enemy within”.
