Two soldiers were killed in an attack on their military vehicle yesterday in Yangon amid a rising tide of violence.
Attackers tossed two grenades into the bed of a truck loaded with soldiers and then opened fire, killing two at about 4:30pm on Baho Road in Sanchaung Township. In footage shot from afar, gunshots could be heard along with soldiers shouting profanities to warn other motorists away.
One soldier was shot and killed in the front after the commanding officer was shot in the head. The driver was injured. Graphic images showed one dead soldier slumped over in the front passenger seat, and another stretched out on the floor in the back of another vehicle. Additional bombings were reported afterward on Zeyawaddy Street.
Though the military has not yet commented on the attack, two armed militia groups called the Revolution Force and the Generation Freedom Army took credit for the attack.
The attack came two days after the government in exile known as the National Unity Government, or NUG, called for armed uprising against the ruling junta. Coconuts was unable to confirm whether the two forces were related to the NUG.
Myanmar’s shadow government declares war on junta
Also on Thursday, the junta’s Anti-Terrorism Central Committee announced that landlords would be held responsible if they did not file tenant names with the relevant ward or village administrators. Their properties will be seized by the state, it warned.
On Wednesday night, roughly 100 people were arrested in 13 wards of Yangon’s Hlaing Township after soldiers searched homes on Ashoka and Maha Swe roads and accusing them of not submitting overnight guest lists. At least some were free as of Thursday morning, according to an Ashoka Road resident, who spoke anonymously.
Since the February coup, local resistance forces have carried out bombings and assassinations of military informants across the country. Last month, a PDF-aligned unit assassinated six police officers on a Yangon train.
Ko Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma) said on Twitter that dialog with the military was “mission impossible” in response to the tension from the international community to push both parties in Myanmar to solve the crisis.
We want peaceful solution. Therefore we were playing under the 2008 constitution but military did not follow its own rule. How can we have dialogue with them? Please answer us those who are pushing for dialogue.
— Ko Bo Kyi (@kobokyi) September 8, 2021
His association reported Thursday that a total of 1,058 civilians have been killed by the military since the Feb. 1 coup, and 7,992 placed unlawfully into regime custody.
DAILY UPDATE 09/09
1058 killed
7992 total arrested
6343 currently detained/sentenced
1984 evading arrest warrantbrief https://t.co/O4rsLFrizX
detained https://t.co/k01jwh2aQB
sentenced https://t.co/YBlGwvxwNd
fatalities https://t.co/EV29KQ6pzL
releases https://t.co/bw5wqmzzux pic.twitter.com/erL77ABiq8— AAPP (Burma) (@aapp_burma) September 9, 2021
