4th May 2021
The EAOs are ramping up action against the Junta. They have started to inflict casualties at officer level to the Tatmadaw and now the police.
The Mansi Township police chief was killed in an attack by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on the central police station in the town in Bhamo District, Kachin State at around 8 p.m. on Monday.
“Police Major Hein Htet died immediately. And another police officer was seriously injured. We are civilians, so we don’t have details of their injuries. They were rushed to Bhamo Military Hospital,” a local resident said.
There was an exchange of fire as KIA fighters attacked the police station. The Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion 319, which is located near the police station, also responded with artillery fire.
KIA information officer Colonel Naw Bu justified the KIA’s attack on the police station, saying police are working hand in glove with the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) in committing violence against civilians.
“We have to attack the police stations now. Police are the same [as the military]. Everyone knows that police are also responsible for violence against the people. So, we carried out the attack,” Col. Naw Bu said.
The KIA colonel said he had not received reports from the ground, and was thus unable to confirm whether any weapons or ammunition had been seized from the police station.
The KIA was in the process of negotiating a bilateral ceasefire agreement with Myanmar’s military before the Feb. 1 coup. However, clashes broke out between the group and the Tatmadaw on March 11 after the latter’s troops shot dead peaceful anti-regime protesters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.
Since then, the KIA has launched attacks on military and police outposts of the military junta in Kachin, attacking one police outpost each in Hpakant and Shwegu townships in March.
Military tensions are highest in Momauk, where the Tatmadaw is attempting to retake control of a strategic hilltop post on the Chinese border that the KIA seized in late March. The military has been conducting airstrikes in Momauk after suffering heavy casualties in ground fighting.
On Monday morning, the KIA shot down a military helicopter gunship in Momauk, killing three soldiers on board.
Source the Irrawaddy 4th May 2021
More casualties came in mountainous Chin state in the north west.
Four junta troops were killed when local resistance fighters attacked Myanmar military bases in Hakha, the capital of Chin State, on Monday, bringing the death toll of junta forces in Hakha to eight in just two days.
Civilian anti-regime fighters attacked a junta outpost at an intersection in Hakha around 11 pm on Monday, leaving four soldiers dead and more than 10 injured.
“The clash lasted for nearly an hour,” said a Hakha resident. It happened at the intersection of the roads leading to Falam in Chin State and Kale of Sagaing Region. The attack was carried out in retaliation for the junta’s arrest of anti-regime protesters.
Another Hakha resident said, “We told them that we would attack if they did not release the people detained on May 2. Take a look at the faces of the soldiers in the town, they are in complete despair”.
There were also clashes on Sunday and Monday at a military checkpoint in Hakha near the base of the Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion 645. Four junta troops died in the fighting on Sunday evening.
On Sunday, local resistance fighters also ambushed military trucks in Tilin, Magwe Region which were on their way to reinforce junta soldiers in Mindat, Chin State. Both sides reportedly suffered casualties, but The Irrawaddy was not able to verify the reports independently.
Source the Irrawaddy 4th May 2021.
The fighting has also reached Magwe region on the middle Irrawaddy, getting closer to NayPyiTaw the capital.
Local resistance fighters and junta forces have been clashing in Tilin Township, Magwe Region since Monday with both sides suffering casualties, according to local sources.
“There is a shootout going on near Htanbingon village, where there was fighting yesterday, too. Two civilians died yesterday and we are sure at least one junta soldier also died yesterday,” a resident told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday morning.
Fighting erupted on Monday morning near the village of Wetthet on the Tilin-Gangaw road, as junta security forces carried out raids after an explosion near the township education office in Tilin.
Local resistance fighters attacked junta troops returning to Tilin near Htanbingon village around 7.45 am. The fighting escalated as junta reinforcements heading to Tilin from Gangaw were attacked near the village around 9.30 am.
Four junta troops and three resistance fighters died in the fighting, according to local sources. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify the reports.
The military regime said three civilians died in the fighting and a Htanbingon villager was arrested while carrying a traditional firearm. Three junta troops were injured, and a vehicle was damaged, said the regime.
Junta forces also claimed to have seized six motorbikes and two traditional firearms during the fighting.
Htanbingon village is some three miles north of Tilin. Elderly people from the village are currently sheltering at the village monastery, said a resident.
There was also a clash at a police outpost in Say Min Taw village some 18 miles from Tilin, he said. It is unknown if there were casualties.
Source the Irrawaddy 4th May 2021.
The resistance is getting wider, deeper and selective. Without putting too fine a point on things, the country has been destroyed in 3 months. Telenor, one of the main mobile phone providers, a Norwegian company, has written down its investment in its Myanmar operation to zero. That is an impairment of 6.5 billion Krone (NZ$1,090,000,000).
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