One civilian killed, four arrested in Magwe Region police raid

Police use an ambulance to storm a Yesagyo Township village and open fire on a house owned by a man believed to be involved in anti-coup protests

Myanmar Now

Published on Aug 24, 2021

Chit Ye Yint, 21, was killed during a police raid (right) and on a house (left) in Hintha Village, Yesagyo Township (Supplied)

One 21-year-old man was killed and four others were arrested during a police raid on a home in the village of Hintha in Magwe Region’s Yesagyo Township, according to local sources.

The police who carried out the raid came to the village in an ambulance on Sunday afternoon, an eyewitness said.

Nine civilians were present in the house that was targeted in the assault—four men, two women, and three children, including one teenager.

One of the men, Chit Ye Yint, was shot in the forearm and died on the way to the hospital. The three other men and one teenaged boy were taken into junta custody, according to the eyewitness.

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They included Soe Thu, 30; Paing Soe Oo, 25; Kyaw Zaw Hein, 20; and Ant Bwe Oo, 17.

Paing Soe Oo is the owner of the house and is believed to have participated in anti-coup activities and protests, according to villagers, although the reason for the raid was not confirmed.

“The ambulance came in first and a pick-up truck was behind it. The guys were minding their own business and were unarmed,” a second villager said.

“They surrounded the house and opened fire. One of the guys was startled by the gunfire and tried to flee through a window. The police shot him,” the man said, referring to Chit Ye Yint.

“He was bleeding a lot but the police took him on the truck anyway, lying on his stomach. He died on the way to hospital,” he said.

Villagers speculated that the junta-appointed villager administrator had informed the police about the young men’s whereabouts. Soon after the raid, the administrator and his family members were relocated by the military council to another area in what locals say was an effort to prevent them from being the target of reprisals.

Following the police ambush on Hintha, many of the village’s residents fled to other areas, according to local sources.

Myanmar Now was unable to verify the villagers’ claim.

Local resistance fighters based near the border between Magwe and Sagaing regions told Myanmar Now that the military has been carrying out “clearance operations” in villages along the Chindwin River since last week.

The Chindwin River runs through Yesagyo Township; the village of Hintha is on the western bank.

Last Thursday, junta troops raided a People’s Defence Force (PDF) camp in another Yesagyo village, Ma Au. Junta forces also seized weapons and ammunition from a monastery compound in Shwe Hlan, also in Yesagyo, on the east side of the Chindwin.

At the time of reporting, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that at least 1,013 civilians have been killed by the junta since the February 1 coup and more than 7,400 people arrested.

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Military cuts off internet connection in 11 more townships in northwestern Myanmar

The junta has enforced an internet blackout in a total of 22 townships in Chin and Kachin states and Magway, Mandalay and Sagaing regions

Myanmar Now

Published on Sep 25, 2021

Activists in Sittwe, Rakhine State, stage a protest on February 22, against human rights abuses such as an internet ban (EPA)

The junta cut off mobile internet access and most Wi-Fi services to 11 townships in war-torn areas of Chin State and Magway Region at 6pm on Thursday evening, according to locals and members of the local resistance forces in the area.

The affected townships are Gangaw, Htilin and Myaing in Magway Region, and Falam, Kanpetlet, Matupi, Mindat, Paletwa, Tedim, Thantlang and Tonzang in Chin State.

Locals have said that the internet blackout will make it difficult for locals to both send and receive information on the conditions in the region.

“After the internet connection is cut off, the phone connection may also be cut off. In that case, I don't think the situation will be easy,” a Mindat resident told Myanmar Now.

A church and several buildings were hit by artillery shells fired by the Myanmar army during a clash with the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) on September 22 in Mindat.

Fighting broke out between the junta’s troops and the CDF in Thantlang on September 18, forcing nearly the entire population of the town to flee. At least 18 homes and a government building were set ablaze by the junta’s artillery fire, and a Christian pastor who tried to put out the fire was shot dead by the Myanmar army troops.

Soldiers cut off the ring finger on his left hand to steal the pastor’s wedding band; details of the act went viral on social media.

In the Chin State capital of Hakha, internet access was still available on Saturday morning, according to locals.

Since September 14, the internet connection has been cut off in Myingyan and Mogok in Mandalay Region; Taungdwingyi in Magway Region; and Ayataw, Butalin, Kani, Pale, Taze, Ye-U and Yinmabin in Sagaing Region.

Hpakant in Kachin State has suffered an internet blackout since August.

The recent addition of 11 townships in Magway and Chin State to the blackout on Thursday brings the total of townships without internet access to 22.

A spokesperson from the anti-junta Mindat People’s Administration Team speculated that the restrictions on internet access were likely timed to occur as the military intensifies operations in the region to suppress the resistance movement.

“It is either that they cut the internet and the flow of information because they fear that we will step up offensives against them, or they are preparing to get the upper hand to launch offensives against us,” the spokesperson said.

He insisted, however, that the lack of internet access would not have a major impact on the activities of local guerrilla groups, which do not rely on the internet for communication.

An official from the Yaw Defence Force (YDF), a local resistance group operating in Gangaw, Myaing and Htilin townships in Magway, echoed the assessment of the situation by the spokesperson of the Mindat People’s Administration Team.

“The military cut the internet because they can’t win. It is their usual tactic and won’t have much impact on the revolutionary forces. We will continue what we are supposed to be doing, regardless,” the YDF official said.

The military council has not published information on the cuts.

Following the February 1 military coup, the junta imposed tight controls on the internet nationwide in an effort to suppress news of its brutal crackdowns on peaceful anti-dictatorship protests.

Internet freedom in Myanmar has since collapsed, creating what Freedom House (FH) and Free Expression Myanmar described as “the most severe decline ever documented” in FH’s annual Freedom of the Net global surveys on and analysis of the issue.

“As part of its attempt to crush dissent and maintain power, the military junta shut down internet service, blocked social media platforms and websites, seized control of the telecommunications infrastructure, and ramped up intrusive surveillance,” Myanmar’s Freedom of the Net report, released on September 21, said.

In 2019, at the height of the conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, much of northern Rakhine State lost internet access for more than a year.

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Young activist shot by junta troops in Bago dies in hospital

Sithu Kaung Myat, a well-known and active anti-coup protester, died of gunshot wounds to the chest he suffered during a police raid on his home

Myanmar Now

Published on Sep 25, 2021

A 24-year-old activist who was shot and arrested by junta police on Thursday in Bago died of his injuries on Friday afternoon.

Sithu Kaung Myat was admitted to the Bago General Hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest that he suffered when troops came to arrest him from his home on Zayar Aungmyay St in Hinthagone 19th ward at around 10pm.

After locals visited the hospital and inquired about his condition, they learned that he had died on Friday afternoon.

Sithu Kaung Myat’s 50-year-old mother was also arrested on Thursday and was still in jail at the time of reporting. Police cordoned off the family’s home at around 2pm on Friday, around one hour after her son’s death, a local told Myanmar Now.

“They don’t have other relatives—it is only a mother and a son. She has no other relatives so nobody helped to get her released,” the local said. “People in that ward don’t know who they should ask for help. They don’t know where she has been detained.”

It was not known at the time of reporting if or how a funeral would be held for Sithu Kaung Myat, who was an active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the local police station to inquire about the shooting and the continued detention of Sithu Kaung Myat’s mother—who, it is believed, is in poor health—but the calls went unanswered.

Since the February 1 coup, the junta has frequently held the relatives of targeted politicians and activists hostage when troops have been unable to locate the individual they intended to arrest.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 7,000 continue to be imprisoned by the coup regime, according to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Friday.

The junta has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation and rejected their data as exaggerated.

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Thousands flee homes once again as two Shan armed groups fight for control of territory

The SSPP and the RCSS have so far ignored widespread calls for a ceasefire

Myanmar Now

Published on Sep 25, 2021

Displaced people from the Hohke village tract seen on September 19 (Supplied)

Thousands of people have once again fled their homes after fighting reignited between two armed groups in northern Shan State last week, prompting calls from locals and prominent politicians for a ceasefire.

Troops loyal to the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) began fighting with forces from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) in Hohke village tract on September 14, with the former group at one point firing heavy artillery that destroyed two homes.

Both groups call their armed wings by the same name–the Shan State Army–but the SSPP appends the moniker with the word North while the RCSS’s fighters are known as the Shan State Army - South.

Over 3,000 people have fled their homes, are taking shelter in nearby communities and are in urgent need of aid, said a volunteer who is helping the displaced.

“Entire villages had to flee once the battles started,” he said. Fighting seemed likely to continue and the number of displaced people could therefore increase, he added.

Ten out of 17 villages in the Hohke tract, which is in Mong Kung Township, have seen some or all of their residents flee amid the fighting.

Many of those who fled were displaced from their homes in July when the two groups fought each other in the nearby Loi Hun hill range, close to the SSPP’s headquarters in Wanhai, Mong Hsu Township. During those clashes thousands of SSPP soldiers attacked RCSS units stationed in the hills.

Major Kham Hseng, a spokesperson of the RCSS, said that the current battles started when his group’s units in the Hohke village tract were attacked.

Fighting has also flared intermittently in the townships of Kesi (Kyethi), Mong Kung, Hsipaw and Kyaukme towns, he added.

Major Kham Hseng said his side has also been battling the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which has fought alongside the SSPP in northern Shan.

“We don’t want other people to think that two Shan organisations are fighting against each other. The TNLA is on their side as well,” he said. “[There is] an alliance between armed groups in the northern region as well. It is therefore quite worrying that their collective forces are going to attack us.”

Rumours have circulated that the powerful United Wa State Army has also been fighting alongside the SSPP in the Loi Hun hills, but Major Kham Hseng declined to comment on those reports.

Multiple calls from Myanmar Now seeking comment from SSPP officials went unanswered.

Both the SSPP and the RCSS oppose the coup, locals say, and are fighting for control of territory in the region. The two groups first began fighting when the RCSS’s troops entered territory in northern Shan in 2016.

Locals refer to the SSPP as the “green” army–a reference to the plain green uniforms of its fighters–while the RCSS is known as the “camo” army because its soldiers wear camouflage patterns.

On Sunday SSPP fighters fired mortar rounds after coming under attack by RCSS troops with light weaponry. The shells landed inside the Hokhe village tract, where RCSS troops were stationed, and hit two houses in Hokhe village.

“Because the RCSS was in the village and the green team was outside of the village, they thought they wouldn’t retaliate to the attacks,” the volunteer said. “But the greens started firing shells unexpectedly, which destroyed two houses. We lost count of the number of shells that were fired.”

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An injured person seen at the Mong Kung hospital on September 20 (Supplied)

Several displaced people, all Shan women, were injured during a car crash on Monday caused by poor road conditions in Pang Kay Tu village tract after fleeing Hokhe.

“Four of them had quite severe injuries so they were sent to Mong Kung hospital,” the They were then sent to Loilem hospital as their conditions worsened,” the volunteer said. One of the women sustained a severe head injury.

Calls for ceasefire

Politicians from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) have called on both groups to negotiate a ceasefire and criticised them for endangering locals even further while much of the country is united in fighting the junta.

“It’s very shameful that two Shan groups are fighting against each other amidst the deteriorating political situation,” said Sai Lone, a former lawmaker for the party elected in 2015. “All the people and the monks are begging for peace.”

Sai Leik, the party’s general secretary, said he has called repeatedly for negotiations but his efforts have been in vain.

“They should stop this internal fight among the two Shan groups before it’s too late, since the political situation is very complicated,” he told Myanmar Now.

He has been trying to contact each organisation to request a ceasefire directly, he said, adding that he was saddened to learn of the displaced people who were injured in the car crash.

“It breaks my heart to hear of such matters,” he said.