Arrests
Junta soldiers arrested a 16-year-old girl and four men from a village in Kanbalu Township in Sagaing Region on September 8, according to local sources. Around 100 soldiers came in three helicopters to Zee Ka Nar village one day earlier and proceeded to detain dozens of locals at a monastery, including a teenage girl named Thazin Moe. The junta forces tied the hands of all captive men behind their backs and threatened them not to associate with any resistance fighters, commonly known as members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF). When they left the village on foot the next day, they brought four of the men and Thazin Moe with them, claiming that they had found pictures of the girl welcoming PDF members, according to a local who requested anonymity. The reasons for the accompanying men’s arrests were not known. The detainees are reportedly being held at the police station in Koe Taung Boet village, around 10km from Zee Ka Nar.
Armed resistance
Fighting between junta troops and the resistance force Cobra Column erupted on the night of September 5 in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township and continued in the days that followed. The Cobra Column, a combined group of fighters from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the PDF, said that the military’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 102—under the command of the Light Infantry Division 44 and an artillery battalion—launched heavy weaponry in their direction on both September 6 and 6. Two resistance fighters were injured in the attack.
On September 9, members of the KNLA’s Battalion 27 and the Cobra Column said they intercepted and arrested six LIB 102 soldiers led by Cpt Ye Yint Maung as the troops travelled along the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road. They also claimed to have seized ammunition and weapons, including six assault rifles and hundreds of 40mm and 60mm grenades. On the night of September 11, more junta troops launched offensives against resistance forces around Lay Kay Kaw town in Myawaddy, and continued shelling until the next morning.
Junta affairs
On September 6, military-appointed attorney-general and minister of legal affairs Thida Oo decided to amend the 2014 Printing and Publishing Law at a meeting with other ministry officials. The military mouthpiece that reported on the meeting did not disclose details regarding the amendment. Observers speculated that the move could signify further forthcoming restrictions on the media, including the reintroduction of pre-publication censorship like the previous regime’s notorious Press Scrutiny and Registration Division under the information ministry. The division was abolished in 2012 as part of a media reform process that took place as the country opened up after decades of military rule.
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In an effort to spread junta propaganda beyond Myanmar, military mouthpiece Myawaddy TV signed an MoU with Russian state-owned information agency and radio broadcaster Sputnik on September 6. The agreement was made during coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s trip to Russia to attend the Eastern Economic Forum from September 5-8 in Vladivostok. Regime spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, who is also director of the military’s directorate of public relations and psychological warfare, signed the agreement with Sputnik’s head of international cooperation Vasily Pushkov. Rossiya Segodnya, the media group which operates Sputnik, said that the agreement would cover interaction including “exchanging content and holding joint events.”
UN
Several protests broke out in Myanmar cities over the past week calling on the UN to retain the National League for Democracy government-appointed Kyaw Moe Tun as the country’s permanent representative to the UN General Assembly. The body’s 77th Session is set to open on September 13. At a UN meeting following the 2021 coup, the 52-year-old diplomat spoke out in opposition to the seizure of power and appealed to the international community “to use any means necessary” to depose the military. His stance prompted the junta to attempt to replace him with their own representative. The UN General Assembly’s nine-member Credentials Committee, which is responsible for approving the nominations of each member state’s ambassador, deferred a decision on which of the two appointees would represent Myanmar until this upcoming session. The deferral meant that Kyaw Moe Tun has remained Myanmar’s permanent representative thus far, but the forthcoming decision on who will do so after the September session is expected to strongly influence the perception of other international organisations and agencies regarding who legitimately rules Myanmar.
Urban violence
On the night of September 6, a junta administrator was shot dead in Yangon’s Shwepyithar Township by two gunmen in an attack on a ward administration office. The victim was identified as 100-household administrator Aung Htoo from the No. 9 ward in Shwepyithar. The Yangon Urban Guerrilla Army and the Shwepyithar Township PDF chapter claimed responsibility for the fatal attack and said it was perpetrated in response to continued efforts to maintain operation of the office, which is part of the military’s local administrative mechanism. The guerrilla groups added that they threw a grenade at the office after locals, who had been reporting household guests, fled the scene. They claimed that two other administration staff were also injured in the attack.
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A junta police officer was shot dead in Chanmyathazi Township in Mandalay on the evening of September 8 by unidentified gunmen. The officer killed in the attack was from the No. 10 Chanmyathazi Police Station and commonly known as “Rakhine Gyi,” according to a local woman. He and another policeman had been riding a motorbike together before the incident; he was reportedly shot when he got off the bike to buy something. No further details of the attack were known at the time of reporting.
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On September 7, a weaving workshop in the village of Sar Taw in Mandalay’s Amarapura Township was targeted in a bombing, according to the military’s statement. The regime mouthpiece said that one person was killed and three injured in the explosion and accused the PDF of carrying out the attack. It said that the casualty was identified as a 67-year-old woman and that the owner of the workshop was among those injured.
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The Bilin Township vice-chair of the War Veterans Organisation in Mon State was killed by gunmen on the morning of September 8. The perpetrators shot 45-year-old retired major Hla Win Thein in front of his store as they pretended to be customers, locals said. A Bilin man said that the victim was rumoured to have led local militiamen, known as Pyu Saw Htee members, in support of the junta. He was reportedly fired from the position as militia leader last week. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
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A police lieutenant was shot dead in Sittwe, Rakhine State on the evening of September 8, according to locals. The victim, Thaik Pan, was shot in the head at close range while he stopped his motorcycle at the traffic light near the 500-bed public hospital at around 6:30pm. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Area residents said that he was on one motorcycle while his wife and child were on another, and that they had reportedly been unharmed.
Junta officials have not released any further information on the aforementioned attacks
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