16th-17th September, 2021

 

According to a leaked telegram dated 14 September, the junta has instructed its troops to mobilize wives of soldiers (Ye May) for possible attacks against their bases in Mon and Kayin states. Children of soldiers aged 15 and 16 living in the military compounds had also been reportedly mobilized and armed due to lack of combat troops. After the coup, the junta’s cadet training is facing shortage of applicants as well. According to the NUG, more than 1,700 junta troops have been killed across the country since the coup.

On 16 September, a soldier shot and killed an army major, a deputy battalion commander of the 309th LIB based in Matupi, Chin State, according to DVB. Some news reported that the major reportedly committed suicide.

The Chaung-U PDF leader told Myanmar Now that the junta used helicopter gunship to attack its members in Maethe Kyo village in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region, on 16 September. Five members of the Chaung-U PDF were killed, and one was arrested in a clash. A villager told Myanmar Now that the bodies were found the next morning scattered around the village with signs of torture.

The Irrawaddy reports that the junta troops arrested a cancer patient in Natmauk Township, Magway Region, after failing to apprehend her husband who is a strong supporter of the NLD party. The junta troops demanded the villagers that she be exchanged for 10 villagers who are on their wanted list, a local said. Moreover, 14-year-old boy, who was taken hostage on 3 September after failing to locate his father, the leader of the NLD in Taungtha Township, has not been released yet, according to Myanmar Now.

Due to the massive troop movements and reinforcements, there are growing fears that fighting across the country will intensify after the rainy season. According to Mizzima, 14 trucks and two tanks carrying supplies and many troops, including 40 policemen, were seen leaving from Pakokku to Mindat, Chin State. On 17 September, the joint force of the CDF-KKG, The Civil Defense Militia, and PDF (Zoland) attacked the police station in Khaikam, Tedim Township, killing five policemen, PDF-Zoland said in a statement. On 17 September, three local PDF youths were killed in a shootout after they carried out a bomb attack at the military convoy in Khayan Township, Yangon, and the PDF member confirmed to RFA. According to the RFA, there were 22 bomb blasts in Yangon on 17 September.

On 16 September, local PDF members bombed a junta-owned Myanmar Beer office in Monywa, Sagaing Region, according to Mizzima. After the series of attacks against the junta-owned Mytel mobile transmission towers across the country, another junta-owned business was targeted for the first time.

On 16 September, a forged declaration of the Central Bank of Myanmar circulated on social media, saying 5,000 kyat and 10,000 kyat notes had been demonetized. The Central Bank clarified that the announcement was a forgery. The junta has reportedly arrested two people suspected of distributing this forged statement.