Myanmar Spring Chronicle – June 10 Scenes
MoeMaKa, June 11, 2023
KNU issued a warning notice regarding the highway road between Mon and Tanintharyi Divisions; Battle in Salingyi Township; 5 civilian dead bodies found in Mobye
A warning notice has been issued in the name of the commander of the 27th Battalion under the KNU Brigade 6 to the civilian vehicles and passenger vehicles traveling along the road connecting Mon State’s Mawlamyine, Mudon, Thanbyuzayat, Ye and Tanintharyi Division’s Dawei and Myeik cities not to carry products related to the military council or members of the military council.
This highway is mainly used by people living in the south of Mon State and Tanintharyi Division. According to news reports, there are frequent shooting attacks along this route between Ye Township and Thanbyuzayat Township, especially near the section connecting Ye Township to Dawei. However, rather than the activities of the KNLA, an armed group of KNU, the movements and interceptions of the PDF forces formed after the coup are the majority, and KNLA’s attacks are rare. Now, after the notification, it is a situation where we see the potential for more military activities by KNLA.
The armed forces of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an ethnic armed group that has existed in Mon State for a long time, have not fought with the military council after the military coup, but there are only attacks by some newly formed PDF groups in Mon State. At the beginning of the year in Mawlamyine, when the military council went to arrest a house in a neighborhood where a PDF armed group was hiding, the incident that took place was the only exchange of fire in Mawlamyine. Around Ye Township, the newly emerged PDF group, the Ye Bilu, intercepts attacks on highways, in villages and towns in Ye Township. It is also seen that there are not many attacks between KNU and the military council in the area of Dawei and Myeik, which is the area of KNU’s Brigade 4. The announcement signed by the commander of a battalion of the KNLA and released now may lead to the conclusion that the KNLA may conduct more military activities in the Mon and Tanintharyi regions.
Another piece of news for today is the news of a fierce battle between PDF and military council troops in some villages of Salingyi Township in Sagaing Region. Reports said that PDF forces were attacking the police station of Nyaung Pin Gyi Village in Salingyi Township, across the river from Monywa, and that the military council counter-attacked with air support. In Salingyi Township, there are areas of the Letpadaung Copper Mine Project, and there are also villages where protests, shootings, suppression, and arrests by the junta security forces have taken place since about a decade before the military coup. Residents said that they could hear the sounds of the fighting and see the aerial attacks from Monywa Town.
Over 5,000 residents from nearly 10 villages around Nyaung Pin Gyi Village reportedly fled.
Another news item from today’s news is the news that 5 dead bodies were found in a neighborhood in Mobye Town in the Karenni region. It was found by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces (KNDF) in a neighborhood of Mobye where military councils are stationed. It is said that the bodies are 3 men and 2 women. There are frequent clashes between the military council troops and the KNDF in Mobye, and information about how many residents are living in the town is not disclosed in the news.
Compared to other states, Karenni State is a small state with a population of over 350,000. It is also a state where armed groups that emerged after the coup are attacking the military council troops with force. Karenni State is bordered by Taungoo District and Nay Pyi Taw area through Pinlaung region in Southern Shan State, so it is considered by the military council to be an important region in terms of military strategy.