Leader of Myaing PDF helps his fighters escape ambush by sacrificing himself in shootout with police

Phoe Htay was shot several times as he provided covering fire after a PDF convoy of motorcycles was intercepted in Magway Region

Myanmar Now

Published on Aug 3, 2021

Phoe Htay was shot several times while providing covering fire for other PDF fighters so they could escape a police ambush (Supplied)

The leader of a People’s Defence Force (PDF) chapter in Magway Region was killed in a shootout with police on Sunday while providing covering fire so his fighters could flee an ambush, two of the escapees told Myanmar Now.

Phoe Htay, 40, was riding with a PDF motorcycle convoy past a police station in the village of Bahin, Myaing Township, at around 6pm when a group of officers emerged from the grounds of a nearby pagoda and aimed guns at the resistance fighters.

At the same time, four armed officers in a Toyota Mark II car rammed the motorcycles from behind, while police inside the station fired a volley of gunshots.

Phoe Htay, who also went by the name Aung Kyaw Htay, then began shooting at both the police station and the car that had rammed them, the PDF fighters said.

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“He was shooting at them on his own so that we could escape. All of his people managed to escape,” said one. “If it weren’t for his sacrifice, all of our comrades would have been captured and would still be detained.”

During the shootout, which lasted about four minutes, the two escapees saw a police officer hit by one of Phoe Htay’s shots and fall down, though they are unsure if he died. Phoe Htay was shot numerous times, they added.

The PDF fighters were on a mission when the ambush happened, though the two escapees declined to give details or say how many men were involved. The fighters had split into three groups and rode motorcycles with their weapons hidden, said the second escapee.

Phoe Htay was part of the middle group of motorcycles. “They let the first batch of us go and tried to catch the second batch, which caused the clash,” the second escapee said. “They had undercover officers on lookout.”

The officers in the Toyota started tailing Phoe Htay’s motorbike near a petroleum plant about 30 minutes from Bahin, according to the first escapee.

“We kept our weapons hidden,” he said. “There are some rumours that we were targeted because we were carrying our weapons in plain sight. It’s not true. They were informed about us coming. We only managed to escape because of his sacrifice.”

The military took Phoe Htay’s body and have not returned it to his family, the two PDF fighters said. Soldiers from Battalion 101 are now stationed at the police station where the shootout took place as well as in the local high school, they added.

Before taking up arms, Phoe Htay became a prominent protest leader in the wake of the February 1 coup. He also served as a member of the local executive committee for the National League for Democracy.

Late last month PDF chapters from 13 townships in Magway formed an alliance and named themselves the Magway Division Army (MDA).

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NUG welcomes ASEAN’s decision to exclude Myanmar junta from summit

In a statement, the shadow government also offered to make its own recommendations for a ‘non-political’ representative

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 18, 2021

Protesters hold placards outside the Indonesian embassy in Yangon on February 24 to show their opposition to the Indonesian government's alleged support for new elections by Myanmar’s military junta

Myanmar’s shadow government said on Monday that it welcomed a decision by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) not to allow the country’s military chief to attend a summit of the regional grouping later this month.

In a statement, the National Unity Government (NUG) called the move an “unprecedented and positive step” and urged the bloc to ensure that not only junta members, but also “any individuals and organisations” associated with the regime, are barred from the summit.

“ASEAN must ensure the Myanmar representative can objectively represent the interests of Myanmar and its people,” the NUG said in its statement.

“We stand ready to provide recommendations for [a] non-political representative for ASEAN’s evaluation and consideration,” it added in response to the bloc’s announcement that it would invite an alternative representative for Myanmar to the summit.

On Saturday, Asean’s current chair Brunei announced that junta chief Min Aung Hlaing would not be invited to the upcoming summit due to his regime’s failure to implement a five-point consensus reached between the junta and the regional grouping in April.

Military spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun called the decision “disappointing” and remarked that the regional association’s policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states had been weakened due to “external pressures and other reasons,” according to a report by the BBC’s Burmese-language service.

The NUG said, however, that the military had taken advantage of the principle to prevent meaningful engagement to resolve Myanmar’s current political crisis as it continued to try to consolidate control over the country “by force and violence.”

“The junta has betrayed not only its own people but also the leadership of ASEAN,” the NUG statement said.

In a 13-minute televised address on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing accused the NUG, the ousted lawmakers’ Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and some ethnic armed groups of inciting violence and sabotaging the military’s efforts to restore peace and stability since the April consensus.

“We still have to solve this till today,” he said, arguing that opponents of the regime are chiefly responsible for the ongoing violence in the country.

“No one has been trying to prevent and stop their violence, but they have demanded that we solve those problems. ASEAN should help us deal with that,” he added.

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Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing speaks on state television on October 18

Regarding last week’s postponement of a planned trip to Myanmar by ASEAN’s special envoy to the country, Erywan Yusof, the junta chief said that further negotiations would be needed before the visit could go ahead.

In his address, Min Aung Hlaing also said that those currently serving prison sentences or still in custody facing charges for their involvement in protests would soon be released.

Later in the day, the junta announced plans to release 1,316 convicted detainees and drop charges against an additional 4,320 individuals, including some who are still at large, on “humanitarian grounds.”

However, those who receive the regime’s clemency will also be required to sign a pledge stating that they agree not to take part in anti-regime activities, the announcement said.

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Army shelling kills six-year-old girl in Matupi

No clashes were taking place at the time of the incident, according to the anti-regime Chinland Defence Force

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 18, 2021

A military column is seen marching in southern Chin State’s Mindat Township in July (Supplied)

A six-year-old girl was killed by shrapnel on Saturday after regime forces based in Chin State’s Matupi Township started firing artillery near her family’s farm.

According to an information officer for the Chinland Defence Force (CDF), the girl and other members of her family were in a hut on their farm when it was hit by an artillery shell.

“The child died immediately after the shell hit the farm,” the CDF officer told Myanmar Now.

No one else was injured in the incident, which occurred near the village of Valangpi, in the southern part of the township, on Saturday afternoon.

The shelling was unprovoked, the CDF officer said, noting that it occurred while a column of around 70 soldiers from a tactical base in Matupi was walking out to welcome a convoy of more than 60 military vehicles arriving from Mindat, a town in southern Chin State.

“The military unit from the tactical base went out to welcome the reinforcement column coming from lower Myanmar when the base started shooting at the town,” he said.

“There was no clash whatsoever. They were shelling random places, hoping to hit one of our bases,” he added.

Meanwhile, another civilian was reported killed at around the same time near the village of Kainn, also located on the road between Matupi and Mindat.

The victim, a 50-year-old man, died instantly after stepping on a landmine, according to the CDF officer. It was unclear which side had laid the landmine.

There have been a number of deadly clashes along the Mindat-Matupi road in recent months, including one that killed a junta lieutenant colonel in late July.

The area has seen a major build-up of military forces in the past few weeks, with two columns of reinforcements arriving since the beginning of October.

Internet connections have also been cut in most of Chin State since September 23. Of the state’s eight townships, only the capital Hakha still has internet access.

Regime forces have been accused of indiscriminately firing on civilians and torching their homes as part of a campaign to crush resistance to the junta that seized power on February 1.

Speaking on September 21, the coup regime’s information officer, Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, blamed resistance forces for the military’ s actions, saying that rebels were hiding in the homes of civilians and using them to ambush soldiers.

The junta spokesman was unavailable for comment on the latest civilian deaths in Chin State.

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‘Even if you support them, they won’t spare you’ - junta forces arrest pro-USDP civilians after suffering heavy casualties

Dozens of soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members were reportedly killed by PDF landmines. The survivors then detained supporters of the military’s proxy party

Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 18, 2021

PDF fighters attend a graduation ceremony in an undisclosed location in Sagaing Region in August

Junta soldiers arrested 17 civilians who are supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Sagaing Region on Friday after their column suffered heavy casualties during landmine attacks by resistance fighters.

People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters in Khin-U Township said they killed over 60 junta soldiers and members of Pyu Saw Htee, a group formed of civilians and ex-military personnel to help the junta crush the anti-coup movement, during the attacks.

The junta forces were on patrol just outside of Kyee Aing village in the early hours of Friday morning when they were struck by explosions from 20 landmines planted in their path by the PDF.

“So many of them died during that attack,” said the Khin-U PDF’s leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “All of the villagers had to flee, of course,”

The surviving junta forces marched forward to Dan Kone village and arrested 17 people, he added. Both the PDF leader and a Khin-U local said the 17 were hiding in a monastery during the raid by soldiers and were known to be USDP supporters.

“In other words, they were military supporters,” the local said. “This just further proves that even if you support them, they’re not going to spare you. You’ll have to run just like any other person.”

Soldiers arrested another four people in the nearby village of Mon Taw that same morning, he added. The whereabouts of the detainees is unknown.

The USDP has not commented publicly on the reported detention of its members.

After the landmine attacks, at around 3pm on Friday, the military sent a 12-wheeled truck to collect the dead bodies and the injured, a second PDF fighter told Myanmar Now. The PDF then attacked that truck with more landmines as it left the area with injured soldiers on board.

“We attacked that vehicle with landmines again right before they got to the Ye-U bridge,” he said. “The vehicle’s right side got completely destroyed and it could not proceed.”

Myanmar Now is unable to independently verify the PDF’s reports about the number of casualties.

Also on Friday, the PDF said it attacked the Khin-U Township police station with a grenade, killing two junta soldiers.

The PDF said it did not suffer any casualties during the clashes. Its fighters went on to surround the village of Ma Daung Hla, which is reportedly a Pyu Saw Htee stronghold.

“There are a lot of Pyu Saw Htee members in Ma Daung Hla village,” the second PDF fighter said. “We clashed with them in the evening but there were very few casualties on either side.”

The PDF then retreated, and shortly after that a military helicopter arrived at the village, he added.

A unit of roughly 200 soldiers is stationed at a military base in e Ye-U Township, about 14 miles from Khin-U. Troops there have been conducting daily raids on surrounding villages recently, locals said.