Yesterday we reported the discovery of a mass grave with six dead bodies in Sagaing Region’s Taze Township, and today, it was reported that about nine civilians from Laik Chan village were tied up and taken as hostages to Taze town on the evening of August 30. Residents of Taze town suspected that these nine hostages would be used as human shields on their (regime’s forces) way back to Monywa if local People Defence’s Force (PDF) attacked them. Violence never strayed very far under the control of the military regime. In another part of Taze Township, four villagers were detained and forced to carry the belongings of the villagers that junta’s forces looted from Kabaung Kya village, residents told DVB News today.
Clashes with the regime’s troops continued to intensify in Karen and Shan states, and Magway and Sagaing regions as well. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the combined forces of the military troops and Border Guard Force (BGF) clashed in Karen State’s Papun district yesterday, and two junta soldiers were killed with many others reportedly suffering injuries. According to Mudraw Information team, there had been a total of 130 clashes in one month alone, and about 11 casualties and 68 injuries were reported on the regime’s side, DVB News reported today. In Shan State, the fighting between Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and junta’s forces continued on in Mongkoe town on August 30 as well, with MNDAA reporting photo evidence of the weapons that it had confiscated. About 15 casualties and at least six regime soldiers were reportedly injured during the August 30’s clashes.
In the central regions, local PDFs had been launching landmine attacks on SAC’s forces in Magway Region’s Pauk Township on August 30, and Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township on August 31. Pauk-PDFs launched a landmine attack on the regime’s troops who were approaching Pin Daung and Wun Chun villages to initiate offensive attacks, killing seven members. In Depayin, about five military trucks were attacked between Pyan Kya and Kya Khit villages today’s afternoon with landmines. Residents said there were many injuries from the regime’s side, and saw one truck burning up in flames and two others reportedly broke down.
August 30 was the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) released a statement yesterday to honor the day, and claimed that enforced disappearances were “one of the worst kinds of crimes against humanity”. According to the most recent AAPP’s database, the locations of at least 82 percent of the detainees under military custody are unknown since February 1. The statement basically declared that information on the fate or whereabouts of any of the total 7627 people detained since the coup has not been disclosed by the junta. To add onto this news, a journalist based in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pyapon Township, Ko Myo San Soe was arrested from his home on August 29 and families still did not have any contact with him till today, DVB News reported today. Sources close to him said that Ko Myo San Soe has only been volunteering to find oxygen supplies for the town since the beginning of COVID-19 third wave.
Residents of Yangon in recent days have been subjected to bomb blasts, youth arrests and tighter security checks due to blasts across the city. DVB News reported today that residents of FMI City, Pun Hlaing Estate, Nawaday Housing, Htee Hlaing Shin Housing and Aung Zeya Housing in Hlaing Tharyar Townships need to report to the township administration with guest registration. The directive, which was issued on August 30, instructed all tenants, except those with a household registration form (66/6) to file a guest list for their maids and guards as well or else legal action will be taken against the responsible person.
Despite everything, protests and rallies against the military regime continued across the country as a slow burn wildfire. Yangon saw a group of women leading a protest rally in downtown, and a small group of protesters in Mandalay also marched the streets to honor the fallen Myataung protest column member, Ko Sai Ye Yint who was killed during a raid a month ago.
