After more than two weeks of ceasefire between the local resistance fighters and the regime’s forces, news from Kayah (Karenni) State hits the headline again. Today, Karenni local news group Kantarawaddy Times reported today that villagers from Palaung, Dawtayo and Dawse villages, eastern part of Loikaw township, have fled from their homes due to the artillery shelling which began around 10am. One villager said that they had to leave their home immediately so they did not manage to bring enough food supplies and sheltering items. UNOCHA reported last month that more than 100,000 people in Karenni State, mainly from Demoso and Moebye townships, are displaced due to the clashes between the junta’s forces and the local resistance group.
Sagaing Region has seen continuing clashes as well as displacements in the past few months as the local resistance groups and the regime’s forces fight. Today, Ko Thurein, the leader of Sagaing People Defense Force (SPDF) announced that PDFs from 27 out of 37 townships in the region has already created a network, and coordinated attacks at the junta’s forces have been launched in at least 10 townships so far. Ko Thurein said that SPDF prioritises the safety of civilians and only targets the regime’s soldiers and lackeys.
Around 3pm today, clashes broke out between local PDFs in Sagaing’s Kaw Lin township and the regime’s soldiers. Kachin Independence Army (KIA) provided help to Kawlin-PDF in the fight. As the fighting was severe, the junta’s forces retaliated by shooting indiscriminately at the residential areas, and using artillery shelling. Kawlin-PDF warned the local residents to stay vigilant and requested for cooperation. Later in the evening, It was reported that four soldiers including two officers from the junta’s side were killed, and about 20 were injured. No casualties from the people’s forces reported. However, two civilians were killed due to an artillery shell falling on their home.
This morning, a bomb exploded inside a police car in Yangon’s Sanchaung Township around 9am. The police car was parked on the Myaynigone flyover to remove an ill-wish banner for Min Aung Hlaing’s birthday tomorrow. Although casualty report hasn’t come out, witnesses said that ambulances were seen going to the scene and the flyover was temporary closed as the police conducted a search. Around the same time in Hlaing Township, another bomb blast took place in Township Electricity Supply Office. Again, no injury were reported so far.
In Mandalay Region’s Singu township, a notorious military informant/administrator was shot dead by a group of unknown gunmen. This morning around 7am, U Aung Myint was shot with a pistol for six times while he was buying betel nut in Nwe Yone village near Mandalay-Mogok highway. According to local residents, he was responsible for arrests and torture of several anti-coup protesters from Nwe Yone village as he tipped off information about young protesters.
Despite frequent attacks on military informants (Dalan), the Dalan problem remains at large. Last night in Palinpya village of Myo Thit township in Magway Region, the regime’s soldiers came to search for a man but when they couldn’t find the wanted person, they arrested three villagers for possession of knives. A local villager assumed that the junta’s forces came for a search due to a dalan’s information.
In Mandalay Region on June 29, Wundwin Township’s NLD chairperson Ko Soe San was arrested by the regime’s forces, and he died in the police custody the next day. However, the junta’s soldiers declared his cause of death as Covid-19 and refused to return his body according to Khit Thit media’s report today. Looking at the Covid-19 data, the junta’s Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) has been reporting at least 10 deaths of Covid-19 patients in the past few days, and we don’t know how many of them actually died due to the coronavirus, or the junta’s fascist virus. With the new variant spreading quickly, it is reported today that about 150 police chiefs of Crime Investigation Division from Insein township, Yangon tested positive of Covid-19 . This is the first Covid-19 cluster reported among the regime’s forces, and we wish nothing but the worst for them.
Regardless of the junta’s atrocities and raging coronavirus, anti-regime protests were staged in various part of the country. In Mandalay, striking monks marked 144th day of their protest march today while student protesters gathered and burned the flag of Myanmar, designed under the abolished 2008 Constitution. Several townships such as Sarlingyi and Latpadaung townships in central Myanmar, Hpakant township in northern part, and Dawei, Launglon townships in southern part, protests are all still going strong.
