Yangon (Chindwin) : A series of fighting yesterday Kalaymyo and Mindat in Chin State has claimed the lives of 57 junta soldiers, one of the most significant losses in a single day since the armed clash reportedly started in August.
The military junta has sent 47 dead bodies to Kalaymyo hospital in the clashes with People Defense Force and Chin National Defense Force in the Kalamyo area, with the intense fighting in the highway of Mindat – Matupi leaving 10 junta soldiers dead.
Both sides have a casualty. The 73-year-old from Chinland Defense Force – Mindat, who became the oldest person joining the civilian defense force was reportedly killed in a battle in Chin State, and the other two comrades are also wounded with a minor injury. Only one People, Defense Force member, was killed in a battle in the Kalaymyo area.
The clashes in the Sagaing region, Chin State, northern Shan State where MNDAA (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army) are based, Southern Shan State where Karenni People Defense Forces are active, and Kayah State are increasingly alarming with no sight of abating the armed conflict.
The military coup in February has sunk Myanmar into a full-blown civil war, fuelling an escalation of armed conflict occurring nearly every day across the country since August with no sight of abating the armed conflict.
The call of a defensive war against the military junta by the National Unity Government (NUG) on 07 September has sparked an escalation of fighting in many parts of the country.
Since then, in almost every battle between the People Defense Forces in many parts of the country and Chinland Defense Forces in Chin State and military junta, the junta’s side has lost heavier.
Recent defectors have revealed the extreme low of morale among the army, facing high scrutiny among the soldiers by higher rank and commander with a fear that soldiers would run away for defection. Thousands want to defect, but the military’s leadership has used their family as prey, and many have been stuck and not able to run away.
On the other hand, the assassinations of the military informants and its vigilante groups have claimed dozens of lives since September.
The coup has effectively ended the power-sharing governance designed by the infamous 2008 military’s Constitution between the civilian-led government and the Tatmadaw known as the military.
The deadly crackdown on the peaceful protesters in February has started a new beginning of massive build-ups of the civilian defense forces across the country, making a path to becoming formal lethal armed formations, with thousands completing the military training provided by the ethnic armed groups.
According to many interviews of comrades of People Defense Forces, people from various backgrounds have chosen the path of armed confrontation fighting against the military regime to return people’s power, ending the seven decades of military rule.
