7th July 2021
A convoy of 21 motorcycles taking food and other supplies to a refugee camp in Saw, Magway was ambushed by the military and destroyed. Their campaign of intimidation and bullying continues.
In Yangon, a major fire broke out in Pazundaung township, on the fringe of downtown.
Covid is beginning to hit in a big way, and there is a shortage of oxygen cylinders and regulators. Millions of people in Myanmar are suffering shortage of oxygen tank cylinder regulators. Over 40 people died from covid and natural diseases yesterday in Kalay, Sagaing. Covid patients are dying looking for oxygen in Yangon.
Source Mratt Kyaw Thu, ex frontier journalist.
According to defence lawyers, Yangon’s Insein prison will be put on lockdown beginning July 8 until further notice due to escalating numbers in the Covid-19 outbreak. From July 7, all court sessions at the prison’s special court have been suspended. This is potentially dangerous as it will spread rapidly through the prison, infecting the inmates. It is certain that prison officers and police will contract Covid and spread the infection throughout the police stations and the cantonments.
In sad news from Myanmar, Raymond, one of the country’s most famous rock stars, tragically died a few weeks ago from malaria. He had been hiding in the jungle in an ethnically controlled area after a 505-arrest warrant was issued by the military junta. Despite the danger, he continued to “conduct public mischief”, using his platform to post regularly about the coup on his Facebook account.
The most unusual people are protesting in their own ways against the Junta, with a former Miss Myanmar undergoing military training in the jungle.
And finally, a further 40 junta troops were killed in clashes at the weekend.
In the latest fighting in Sagaing Region, more than 40 junta troops were killed by civilian resistance fighters in Kawlin Township on Friday and Sunday, residents say.
Three People’s Defense Forces (PDF) members were killed on Sunday, according to a source close to the Kawlin resistance.
Kawlin PDF killed four junta troops and injured 20 more during the clash on Friday at a hill near Thit Seint Gone village in the east of the township, according to a Kawlin resident. On Sunday, more than 40 troops were killed, and three military trucks were destroyed near Nyaung Gone and Kokko Gone villages about 16km from the earlier fighting.
It was the first shooting reported in the township, where residents have held peaceful protests against military rule since the coup in February. Kale, Tamu, Yinmabin, Kani, Mingin and Katha township residents have also taken up arms against the junta since late March.
There are rumours that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) helped the PDF in the fighting. KIA troops fought alongside the PDF in Katha in late May.
However, the KIA’s spokesman Colonel Naw Bu denied involvement.
Col Naw Bu said: “The KIA does not conduct joint military operations with the PDF. However, it is possible frontline KIA battalion commanders might have helped the resistance fighters.”
Source The Irrawaddy, 7th July 2021.
Finally, the BBC today carried a report on the defection of police to the rebels, with visuals and interviews. This was first reported in The BFD a few weeks ago.
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