6th April 2021
We’ll start off today with a cartoon that sums up peoples’ feelings in Myanmar.
The death toll in Myanmar continues to mount, but not quite in the way you would expect.
Four soldiers died on Sunday afternoon when a grenade was hurled into a truck as local residents fought back after the soldiers had shot at anti-regime protesters erecting road blocks in Sagaing Region’s Tamu.
The junta forces opened fire in Tamu, which lies near the border with India, around 4pm on April 4, as well as using slingshots to target protesters and attempting to destroy roadblocks set up by local residents. Protesters fought back for two hours, according to a Tamu resident who wished to stay anonymous.
But while some of the anti-coup demonstrators sustained injuries, no civilians in Tamu died Sunday.
Since a protester was shot dead and seven others injured by soldiers in Tamu on March 25, both protesters and local residents have taken up arms, using improvised explosive devices and shields to defend themselves against the security forces.
All the residents of the town have united in opposition to the security forces after the death of protester Ko Myo Min Aung, also known as Ko Pho Kalar, 33, on the night of March 25, said Tamu residents. Junta forces also detained three severely injured people who were on their way to a hospital in Sagaing Region’s Kale Township.
The following day, four soldiers died as Tamu residents began to defend themselves.
On April 2, six members of the security forces died when striking police officer Thang Hou Gin led an attack on security forces deployed in Tamu’s fire station. Thang Hou Gin was killed in the incident, making him the second Tamu resident to die in the Spring Revolution, the resident told The Irrawaddy.
Over the last ten days, at least 14 soldiers have been confirmed dead even as the regime’s security forces have intensified their brutal crackdown on protesters, who are now reacting to the violence by any means possible.
One protester said that Tamu residents of all ages have been supporting the student protesters, with striking police officers leading the defense against the regime forces.
Soldiers were once again patrolling the town on Monday, but the protester said that the people would continue to defend themselves.
Protesters across Myanmar have been defending themselves since mid-March with traditional homemade firearms, homemade gas pressure guns, handmade bows and arrows and Molotov cocktails.
Source the Irrawaddy 5th April 2021.
In a valiant effort, or was it just a training run, a security depot and a telecom office were attacked.
Bago — Bombs were reportedly used against military-linked sites in Bago on Sunday.
There were attacks on the office of Mytel, a telecoms operator owned by Myanmar’s military, and on security forces at Shwemadaw Pagoda’s southern gate on Sunday.
The attacks were carried out by unidentified bike riders, according to Bago residents. “They attacked the Mytel office and sentries near the pagoda’s gate. But there was no explosion at the Mytel office,” said a Bago resident.
An employee at the Mytel office told The Irrawaddy that two bike riders attacked the office with a homemade bomb but it did not ignite. The military’s mouthpiece Myawady TV, however, reported on Sunday that the Mytel office was attacked with a bomb and windows were broken.
The Shwemadaw blast did no serious damage. Myawady TV reported a bomb attack on a guardhouse.
Afterwards, the security forces stopped pedestrians and motorbikes to look for evidence and to examine phones, according to a resident.
There was an explosion at the Bago district police station on March 30. The military said the attackers used an electrically propelled rocket.
The Irrawaddy was told a police officer suffered a leg injury in the explosion.
Source the Irrawaddy 5th April 2021.
It may in the end prove futile, but the junta are finding it more difficult than they thought, and if the police start suffering more casualties then police morale will be an issue. They don’t like it when the bullets start coming back.
Yangon has started to fight back in a small way. A bus was bombed in South Okkalapa, a site of much recent bloodshed.
These are only small beginnings and as I said they may be futile, but they will worry the Police because they are only used to one-sided violence.
Finally, because I don’t deal in unverified reports, I can’t check what I have learnt, but there are rumours that something is going to happen from the protesters side either in the next two weeks or before the monsoon starts in mid-May.
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