Seven people, including two junta soldiers, were killed in shootings in four Yangon townships on Sunday: South Dagon, Mingaladon, Mayangone and Hlaing Tharyar.
Battles have been escalating nationwide between the resistance forces and the junta in the two months since the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) declared war on the military on September 7.
According to a Saturday announcement by the NUG’s defence ministry, more than 1,000 junta soldiers have been killed in ambushes by anti-dictatorship forces, and several military vehicles destroyed by explosives.
Resistance groups have warned all junta-assigned local administrators to resign from their posts or risk being targeted in assassinations of alleged collaborators and informants which have claimed the lives of around 200 people since the coup.
Mingaladon
A general administration office guarded by three armed junta troops in military territory in Mingaladon’s Paukkone ward was targeted in a drive-by shooting on Sunday afternoon. The gunmen fired at the security gate where the soldiers were stationed, according to video footage of the incident taken by the attackers and leaked online.
Two Yangon-based resistance groups, Fight for Freedom and the Myanmar Underground Revolutionary Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that two soldiers and a civilian died.
The groups’ statement included an apology for the death of the civilian, and urged members of the public to keep their distance from junta soldiers so that such scenarios could be avoided in the future.
“Why was a civilian sitting at a security gate anyway? When we realised that he was there, we had already fired three shots and it was too late to stop,” a member of the resistance coalition told Myanmar Now.
“Resistance groups have kept warning civilians to stay away from the junta’s forces. Clashes like this are going to keep happening. I feel really bad for those who are used as human shields like this,” he added.
He continued that two guns were used and that around 50 rounds were fired at the gate.
Citing military council sources, a local media outlet confirmed the ambush but reported no casualties—only that three soldiers and two civilians were injured.
Fight for Freedom and the Myanmar Underground Revolutionary Movement reported that they were not involved in another attack in Mingaladon Township on an air force security gate near Kone Tala Paung village at noon on the same day.
South Dagon
A clash between an unidentified armed group and the junta’s armed forces took place in South Dagon’s Ward 20 on Sunday, after the group attempted an assassination of accused military informant Aung Naing Myint, RFA reported.
The military council then blocked the roads to the area to inspect vehicles and passersby, making it impossible for workers in the South Dagon Industrial Zone to get to their job sites, according to one such worker from neighbouring Mayangone Township.
“We just went back home as we couldn’t get to work anymore since the military blocked the roads to do security checks,” the worker said. “They were just arresting random people. Everything was in chaos there.”
Mayangone
Three unidentified gunmen also shot up the administration office in Mayangone Township’s Ward 1 on Sunday, killing three men and injuring one more, the military council said in a statement.
The junta claimed that the three casualties were office employees Kyaw Soe Win, Aung Pyae Sone Tun and Win Bo; another man named Arkar was reportedly hospitalised.
Myanmar Now was unable to confirm further details about the identities of the deceased.
Nearly 50 bullet casings fired from 99mm handguns were found inside the office, according to the military’s statement.
Locals speculated that the attack may have been an assassination attempt by the resistance on Mayangone Township administrator Sein Thaung, who has been accused of being a military informant.
The aforementioned source from Mayangone said that shortly after the shooting at his township’s administration office, two young men were publicly beaten by soldiers nearby and then taken to a local police station .
“They were handcuffed and beaten under the overpass. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The real perpetrators managed to escape,” he told Myanmar Now.
Hlaing Tharyar
Another alleged military informant, Ko Wai, was assassinated in Hlaing Tharyar’s third ward on Sunday morning. A social media page reporting on the township claimed he was shot three times. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of reporting.
The Yangon-based resistance group Civil Guerrilla Force released a statement claiming that they carried out an attack on a ward administration office in Hlaing Tharyar later that evening, using three grenades.
