Freedom Memoirs – Day 315

by mohingamatters

Junta forces continue to hold onto the “can’t stop, won’t stop” mantra when it comes to arbitrarily killing civilians day after day as the people of Myanmar continue to live in fear under the military rule. At least eight civilians were killed in the span of 12 hours across several regions between last night and today’s noon. The junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs used the phrase, “Every person is equal before the court and no one is above the law” in a recent statement on December 9. We want to see the junta apply this to its entire administration and its forces who continued to kill innocent civilians, who were killed for either just being at the wrong place, wrong time and for pure misunderstanding. 

Last night around 10pm, four youths on two motorcycles were gunned down by junta soldiers in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Tharzan Township. The four young men were reportedly rushing home from a restaurant when they were attacked. Bhone Myint Myat, 25, was shot in his chest and died at the scene while the other three young men were seriously wounded, sources told DVB News. The second incident happened around 5am in Sagaing Region’s Myaung Township where four villagers were killed, the local PDFs told The Irrawaddy. Junta forces were coming into Gaung Khwel village when they arrested four villagers who were reportedly patrolling the village during their night’s watch duty. Ko Ba Hein from Myaing-PDFs said there was no fighting this morning and the four night’s watchers were captured and forced to kneel on the ground while the junta soldiers shot them in their heads from the back. 

The third incident also occurred in Mandalay this morning around 7am. A couple on a motorcycle was shot to death near 300-bed Hospital by the junta soldiers, apparently for not stopping when signalled, BBC Burmese reported. According to Mizzima News, the wife was pregnant at the time of death. The fourth incident was reported in Chin State’s Mindat town this morning around 9am where a 40-year-old woman standing in front of her house was shot to death. According to Chin World, the junta forces were interrogating a young man at the security gate in the western ward of Mindat when the youth fled. The soldiers attempted to catch the youth by arbitrarily shooting, and a stray bullet hit the woman living nearby, killing her. There was one more incident of arbitrary shooting in Sagaing Region’s Yesagyo Township, where junta soldiers reportedly fired 10 shots at a villager returning home from work around 9pm last night, critically injuring him. 

Operation Pyan Hlwar Aung by the National Unity Government (NUG)’s Yangon Region Military Command increased its guerrilla attacks against the junta forces in Yangon Region since December 7. Today, they announced that the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) have launched several attacks in three townships of Yangon Region—Hlaing Tharyar, Taikkyi and Htantabin in the past three days. Around 7pm last night, a military outpost which was manned by junta’s Yangon military strategist at Anawrahta Industrial Zone, was attacked with six bombs and at least 80pc of the outpost was reportedly destroyed. Right after the incident, a military convoy led by the junta strategist which consisted of five vehicles, was also attacked with four bombs on Thamakone junction as it headed towards the bombed outpost. The exact casualties could not be confirmed from the outpost attack, but at least two soldiers were killed and six wounded from the convoy attack, according to a statement from NUG’s Yangon Region Military Command. 

This morning, Oh Tan ward administration office was attacked with a bomb around 7am in Taikkyi Township, reportedly killing one soldier and injuring another. A security outpost near the administration office in Date Kone village of Htantabin Township was also reported to have been attacked around 8pm on December 9. These are the recent operations conducted by the PDFs on top of the four hit-and-run guerrilla attacks which were carried out on December 7 in Taikkyi, Hlaing Tharyar and East Dagon townships. Casualties from all these incidents were difficult to be confirmed as the junta has yet to disclose any details, but knowing them, they will definitely come out with another press conference to victimize themselves and claim how much the resistance forces are “wreaking havoc”. 

Protests against the military coup are still going strong both domestically and internationally. Myanmar diaspora from South Korea, Japan and New York, the United States held public rallies and fundraising events today to support the resistance movement. Domestically, the residents of Sagaing Region’s Yinmabin and Sarlingyi townships continued marching the streets despite the escalating violence in the region, showing the rest of the country that they will never crack under pressure. The same thing can be said for the protesters in Mandalay. Today, at least five strike columns, including the monks’ protest column, were organized with the motto, “In solidarity, we move forward.”

You may also like

Newsletter

@2024 – Developed by Mohinga Matters

Mohinga Matters
Mohinga over everything
-
00:00
00:00
Update Required Flash plugin
-
00:00
00:00