The attack on the abandoned base near the village of Shaduzup triggered a full day of fighting on Monday, according to locals

Myanmar army troops and members of a pro-junta militia destroyed a base and an administrative office operated by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township on Monday, according to local sources.

Although the KIA had abandoned its Wakha base, located about 6km west of the village of Shaduzup, two days earlier, residents of the area said they heard heavy fighting through the day.

Locals said that tensions had begun to build up on Sunday, as some 300 junta troops were deployed near Shaduzup as part of a push to drive out troops from the KIA’s Battalion 14, under Brigade 2, stationed in the area.

Clashes began at around 11am the next day, when the junta troops, together with members of a militia based in Shaduzup, began their attack on the Wakha base.

According to local residents, the military used both heavy artillery and airstrikes to repel the KIA forces.

“It wasn’t until the fighter jets arrived that we realised that the fighting had started. They came again at around 2pm. It’s so noisy right now,” said one Shaduzup villager.

Another resident of the village told Myanmar Now that the regime forces returned to Shaduzup at around 8pm, after setting fire to a KIA regional administration office.

“They torched the office, but it wasn’t a permanent one. They would just come and work there for a while and then go back,” he said.

There were no reported casualties from the fighting and no further clashes on Tuesday, residents said.

In July, junta soldiers from Infantry Battalion 297, which carried out Monday’s assault, attacked a KIA base in neighbouring Tanai Township, killing two KIA soldiers.

The KIA’s information officer, Col Naw Bu, was not available for comment on the latest attack when contacted by Myanmar Now.

The KIA is one of several ethnic armed groups in Myanmar that have condemned the military’s overthrow last year of the country’s elected civilian government.

Gen N’Ban La, the chair of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation, has called for cooperation with resistance forces seeking to end military rule.

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Wai Moe Naing was already facing a potential prison term of nearly three decades when the Myanmar junta levied its most serious charge against him yet—for treason

The junta recently filed an additional charge for treason against Wai Moe Naing—a Monywa-based protest leader already serving 10 years in prison—which is expected to be accompanied by a death sentence if he is convicted.

His mother, Moe Sandar Kyu, said that the allegations that he violated Section 122 of the Penal Code were handed down on September 8. 

Wai Moe Naing was already found guilty in a military court of five counts of incitement. 

Among the 26-year-old’s many outstanding charges—totalling 28 years in prison if convicted—are allegations that he had ties to an “unlawful association” in violation of Section 17(1) of the Penal Code and that he committed other treasonous acts that violate Section 124.

The charges are concerning Wai Moe Naing’s affiliation with the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group of elected MPs ousted in the February 2021 coup and challenging the junta’s claims of legitimacy.  

His mother explained that these may now be dropped to make way for the recent, more serious charge.

“Because they added the Section 122 charge, which includes both of the former charges, he will no longer be facing the other charges,” she explained, adding that his hearing for the new treason case is scheduled for September 22. 

“Lawyers from Monywa do not want to take on his case anymore, so we have had to hire lawyers from Mandalay. But one of them was arrested and one was forced into hiding,” Moe Sandar Kyu explained. “Because we can’t ensure the lawyers’ security, we will no longer be hiring any more of them.”

She will be testifying on her son’s behalf for another Section 505 charge on September 20, a case brought forward after Wai Moe Naing led an April 2021 motorcycle rally in his Sagaing Region hometown. 

Wai Moe Naing was arrested during this protest after being hit by a car driven by junta personnel. The day after he was captured, the regime published a photo of Wai Moe Naing in custody with a bruised eye and swollen face, prompting fears that he had been tortured. 

He was chair of the Monywa University Student Union from 2014 to 2015, and is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee. 

The junta has sentenced 126 prisoners to death since the coup, and executed four men in July of this year. Among them were 88-generation protest leader Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy parliamentarian and beloved musician Phyo Zayar Thaw. 

The 26-year-old was reportedly taken to a military base after being hit with a car and arrested a gunpoint by plainclothes regime officials

The protest leader will also be hit with an unlawful association charge for affiliating with members of the National Unity Government, state media said

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The victim was one of at least 50 people detained last month in connection with the killing of four local administrators

A woman detained following an attack on junta-appointed administrators in Yangon Region’s Twante Township late last month died after two days in custody, according to her family.

The victim, 40-year-old Khin Myo Nwe, was one of at least 50 people arrested over a seven-day period in connection with the shooting death of four local administrators, a suspected junta informant and their driver on August 22.

Her family said that she was taken in for questioning on August 27 and declared dead two days later. No cause of death was ever given, they added.

A friend of the family said that they were permitted to see her body at the Mingaladon Military Hospital in Yangon on August 30, but only under strict conditions.

“They weren’t allowed to see her injuries, and their phones were taken away from them. We still don’t know when the body will be released for cremation,” the friend said.

The mother of four from the village of Zee Phyu Khone was said to be a strong supporter of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party ousted from power by last year’s military coup.

According to local residents, two men also died in custody following their arrest last month—Kyaw Oo, 30, of Zee Phyu Khone, and Gaung Gyi, also 30, from the neighbouring village of Kywel Thalin.

No further details regarding the victims was available at the time of reporting.

Kyi Aye, a 40-year-old woman who was arrested at the same time as Khin Myo Nwe, was also reportedly admitted to hospital in Twante after suffering severe injuries while in detention, sources said.

“We heard that they burned an empty plastic bottle and dripped hot plastic onto her body. Her legs were also badly beaten with iron rods,” said one local, adding that the woman’s current condition and whereabouts were unknown.

At least 10 of the people arrested in the township last month are still in regime custody, according to residents.

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As the Arakan Army takes control of roads and bases, hundreds of junta reinforcements are sent by ship to the northern Rakhine State township

The Arakan Army (AA) overran a military base in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw on Thursday evening, one day after some 500 junta reinforcement troops were sent to the township by boat to avoid AA-controlled land routes. 

The Mee Taik village base, located near Milestone 37 of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border fence and two miles east of Taungpyo town, was seized by the AA in an intense 20-minute exchange of fire, according to a source close to the ethnic armed organisation. 

“The battle was very serious. We could hear machine guns and automatic rifles going off, and heavy weapons,” the source said. 

Employing military airstrikes and shelling in an attempt to stop the AA advance, the 100 soldiers stationed at Mee Taik were still forced to retreat, locals said. 

“The military was firing heavy artillery from Taungpyo. A junta aircraft was also seen leaving Buthidaung Township and heading towards the battle,” a local man told Myanmar Now, adding that the residents of Mee Taik village had fled their homes when the fighting began.

Mee Taik is the third Maungdaw base that the AA has managed to seize in the last two weeks. The armed group also maintains control over several main roads in the region. The junta has responded by using boats to transport its troops and supplies to northern Rakhine State. 

“We have heard that the AA has control over the majority of places in northern Maungdaw Township, so the military can’t come overland anymore,” another local man said.

One day before the Mee Taik base was attacked by the AA, residents of the state capital of Sittwe said that they saw some 500 Myanmar army soldiers heading up the Rakhine coast towards Maungdaw. The three marine vessels carrying them reportedly left the Shwe Mingan port that night.

The Kissapanadi ships used to transport the soldiers were donated by Japan to Myanmar for public use starting in 2017, despite reports that they were most recently used for military purposes.

The vessels were seen stopping in the Kanyin Chaung Economic Zone in Maungdaw, then continuing towards Taungpyo.

Local military council officials reportedly summoned Sittwe ferry owners to a meeting on Thursday, calling for a halt to operations, according to local sources.

Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify this at the time of reporting, but at least one local company subsequently announced the cancellation of trips due citing orders from the junta-run marine administration department. 

While Myanmar Now was not able to reach AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha for comment on the developments in northern Rakhine, the armed group released a statement warning that the military had been sending reinforcements using both marine vessels and civilian vehicles, and that starting on Wednesday the AA would be conducting searches on both land and water in an attempt to intercept these movements. 

They warned that battles could escalate in northern Rakhine if the junta troops arrived. 

The junta responded by carrying out multiple airstrikes a day after the raid, local sources reported on Sunday

The group said the attack was carried out to avenge the recent killing of civilians by Myanmar army shelling

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