Monday, November 6, 2023

Kokang Has Fallen: Operation 1027 Took Shan-North

      (Based on the staff articles from the KHIT THIT MEDIA & AFP in November 2023)

Burma (Myanmar) is a union consisting of seven states, seven divisions, one union territory, five self-administered regions, and one self-administered division. Kokang Region is one of five self-administered regions and now it has fallen into the hands of so-called Northern Alliance.

The Northern Alliance is the military coalition of four Ethnic Insurgent Armies namely KIA – Kachin Independence Army, MNDAA - Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, TNLA - Talang National Liberation Army, and AA - Arakan Army.

On October-27 more than ten thousands fighters of Northern Alliance started the massive operation called Operation-1027 and since then the Alliance has defeated three Myanmar Army divisions based in Northern Shan State and taken over the whole Shan-North region within nine days.

The Northern Alliance announced on November-8 that more than 100 Myanmar Army bases had been overrun and more than 5,000 Myanmar soldiers and police killed or wounded or captured or surrendered during the ten days from October-27 to November-7.

The Operation 1027?

Northern Alliance Strikes SAC Camps Across Northern Shan State: Member groups from the Northern Alliance have launched coordinated attacks on multiple State Administration Council (SAC) camps during Operation 1027, which began on October-27 Thursday night across northern Shan State.

An attack occurred at Infantry Battalion (IB) 241’s camp in Kutkai at 10 pm on Thursday, and the regime retaliated by shelling the area for 30 minutes, resulting in the death of a 40-year-old father of two in Nam Khong.

Other clashes soon followed early Friday morning as the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Arakan Army simultaneously attacked strategically located camps in five townships.

“We can still hear the sound of heavy weapon firing. As far as I know, clashes have continued in Lashio, Namkham, Hsenwi, and Laukkai townships this morning,” a local source told KNG. The BBC Burmese edition reported that the TNLA seized SAC’s 13-mile camp (also called Tower Hill camp) on the Namphetka – Namkham road at 3 pm after launching a 5 am attack.

At the entrance to the town of Lashio, the Northern Alliance killed a SAC police sentry and destroyed the tollgate he was in. The MNDAA seized the town of Chin Shwe Haw in Laukkai Township, shutting down the Lashio – Chin Shwe Haw and Lashio – Muse roads, thus ending border trade with China. The Kokang armed group first attacked a nearby camp at 4 am before overrunning the camp and the town.

At the time of this report, attacks had occurred at the IB 241 and 242 camps in Kutkai Township, the IB 68 camp in Kong Hser and Mung in Lashio Township, Hsenwi Township, the Mongsi area of Mongkoe sub-township, the Sakhan Thit camp in Namkham Township, the Mang Yap mountain camp in Mongkoe Township, and the Chin Shwe Haw camp in Laukkai Township. SAC shelling has continued throughout Kutkai Township, according to a local source.

Ethnic armed groups launch attacks across northern Shan State

An alliance of ethnic armed groups in Myanmar launched coordinated attacks on the military across northern Shan State on Friday, posing a fresh challenge to the junta as it struggles to quell resistance to its rule.

The military’s 2021 putsch sparked renewed fighting with some ethnic armed groups in northern Shan, home to a planned billion-dollar rail link, part of China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army launched a “military operation”, they said in a statement. Pro-military Telegram channels said the resistance groups were attacking 12 towns or settlements across a swathe of Shan state around 100 kilometres across.

The three armed groups – which analysts say can call on at least 15,000 fighters between them – did not immediately provide details on casualties or whether they had taken territory. The MNDAA said its fighters had closed the roads from the trade hub of Lashio to Chin Shwe Haw and Muse on the China border ahead of a “major offensive”.

Footage shared on its media channel showed fighters in what appeared to be an abandoned camp, with weapons and boxes of ammunition scattered across the ground. It did not say where the footage was taken.

Fighting around Lashio – home to the military’s northeast command – and near the towns of Muse, Chin Shwe Haw and Laukkai was ongoing, local media and residents said. Laukkai is about five kilometres from the border with China.

“All shops are closed and no one is going out,” a resident of Hopang township, around 10 kilometres from Chinshwehaw, told Agence France-Presse. “We can hear the sounds of aircraft and gunfire constantly,” they said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

A Muse resident told AFP that locals were staying indoors as soldiers patrolled the streets and that the road from the town to the city of Mandalay – a major trade route – had been closed. A rescue worker in Lashio who requested anonymity for safety reasons told AFP that resistance fighters had begun shelling the military base near the town from 4:00 am and that the military had responded with artillery fire.

All flights to and from Lashio airport had been cancelled on Friday “because of the situation”, an airline ticketing agency told AFP. China’s foreign affairs ministry said it was “closely following” the fighting and called on all sides to prevent the situation from escalating.

One of many mass graves of dead Burmese soldiers from now-demolished LID-99

Northern clashes: In Year 2017, months of fighting between Myanmar’s army and ethnic insurgents in the Kokang border region claimed dozens of lives and sent thousands fleeing from their homes – many to China.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to more than a dozen ethnic armed groups, some of which have fought the military for decades over autonomy and control of lucrative resources. Some have trained and equipped newer People’s Defence Forces that have sprung up since the 2021 coup and the military’s bloody crackdown on dissent.

Earlier this month nearly 30 people were killed and dozens wounded in a strike on a camp for displaced people in neighbouring Kachin State. The Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group that controls the area, blamed the junta for the attack.

Last week the junta ordered air strikes and troop reinforcements as it tried to recover outposts it had lost in subsequent fighting with the KIA, the military and the armed group said. A KIA spokesman told AFP he was not sure if its fighters had joined Friday’s attacks.

(Blogger’s Notes: In the past since Burma’s Independece in 1948 Myanmar Army with the support of majority ethnic Burmese from the Proper Burma had managed to ruthlessly suppress all those ethnic insurgent armies and forced them just hanging on the fringe borderlands of Burma.

But the ever-growing Burmese rebellion led by the ruling ASSK’s NLD party after the MAH’s hated 2021 Coup has drastically weakened Myanmar Army and now the ethnic armies are taking advantage of that and pushing Myanmar Army’s demoralised Burmese troops out of their homelands. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of universally-hated Myanmar Army and that Motherfucker Min Aung Hlaing and his evil family. )

LID-99's LIB-423 was overrun.

Myanmar military says lost control of strategic border town  

Myanmar’s military has lost control of a strategic northern town on the Chinese border following days of clashes with three ethnic armed groups, a junta spokesman said. Since October-27 fighting has raged across a swathe of Myanmar’s northern Shan State – where a billion-dollar rail link is planned as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army say they have seized several military posts and key roads linking Myanmar with China, its biggest trade partner.

“Government, administrative organisations and security organisations are no longer present” in Chin Shwe Haw town, which borders China’s Yunnan province, Major-General Zaw Min Tun said in a statement late Wednesday.

Clashes have taken place at 10 locations across Shan over the past six days, he said, without giving details on casualties. He (Zaw Mel Lone) accused the three armed groups of “blowing up power stations, blowing up bridges, destroying transportation routes”, without giving details.

More than a quarter of Myanmar’s US$1.8 billion worth of border trade with China from April to September this year passed through Chin Shwe Haw, junta-controlled media reported in September, citing the commerce ministry.

Myanmar Army admitted the total loss of Shan-North Region.

The MNDAA released footage on Monday that it said showed its fighters occupying Chin Shwe Haw. A resident of Hseni, around 90 kilometres from Chin Shwe Haw, told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that they could hear the sound of fighting outside their town. Internet access was patchy and thousands of people had arrived in the town seeking safety, the resident said, asking for anonymity for security reasons.

The AA, MNDAA and TNLA – which form the Brotherhood Alliance and analysts say can call on at least 15,000 fighters between them – have fought regularly with the military over autonomy and control of resources.

The Brotherhood Alliance said the military has suffered with dozens wounded, killed and captured since Friday. Analysts say both sides likely inflate or deflate casualty figures. The United Nations says it fears thousands of people have been displaced, with some fleeing across the border into China.

On Tuesday China’s minister for public security met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar state media said, for a second day of talks with top junta officials about the clashes. They discussed attacks by the MNDAA “on security camps… with attempts to deteriorate peace and stability in the region”, the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar said.

China is a top ally and major arms supplier of the junta, and has refused to label its 2021 power grab a coup. Beijing maintains ties with some ethnic armed groups along its border with Myanmar, home to ethnic Chinese communities who use Chinese SIM cards and currency. It has previously denied reports it has supplied the armed groups with weapons.

Dead body of LID-99's CO Brigadier-General Aung Kyaw Lwin?

China security minister in Myanmar following border clashes

China’s public security minister has held talks with Myanmar’s junta on establishing peace along their shared border, state media said Tuesday, following clashes between ethnic armed groups and the military in northern Shan State.

Thousands of people have been reportedly displaced, with some crossing into China, after three armed groups fighting for autonomy launched coordinated attacks on the junta seeking to take control of towns.

Wang Xiaohong, who is also a member of China’s cabinet, the State Council, met the junta’s home minister Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. The two “discussed peace and tranquillity in border areas of the two countries” and cooperation on law enforcement and security, it said, without giving details.

Since Friday fighting has raged across a swathe of Myanmar’s northern Shan – where a billion-dollar rail link is planned as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army said they had seized several military posts and key roads.

The three groups – which analysts say can call on at least 15,000 fighters between them – have fought regularly with the military over autonomy and control of resources. On Monday the MNDAA released footage it said showed its fighters occupying the border town of Chin Shwe Haw.

The junta has said military outposts in at least 10 locations in Shan have come under attack since Friday. The United Nations has said it fears over 6,200 people have been displaced by the fighting, including 600 who have fled across the Chinese border.

China is a top ally and major arms supplier of the junta, and has refused to label its 2021 power grab a coup. China’s envoy for the country has met regularly with their leadership in recent months and during the COVID-19 pandemic provided vaccines and aid to territory that the groups control.

But, analysts say, China also backs and arms several groups along its border with Myanmar, home to ethnic Chinese communities who use Chinese SIM cards and currency. Beijing is also angered by a mushrooming of online scam centres in Myanmar’s northern reaches that it says target Chinese citizens.

Myriad ethnic armed groups operate in Myanmar’s frontier areas and have for decades clashed with the government. Since the military seized power, several of the groups have allied with People’s Defence Forces that have sprung up to battle the junta.

(Blogger’s Notes: Just yesterday on November 10 Dr. Zaw Wai Soe the highly-respected health minister of rebelling NUG declared that Myanmar Army has only 50,000 to 60,000 fighting soldiers left while his side has 400,000 to 600,000 and he is asking Burmese Soldiers to surrender and join the rebellion or they will all be killed eventually like the soldiers of now demolished LID-99.)

MAH's order to his army to pray to Buddha for their survival.