Airstrikes kill 14 civilians in southern Kachin State
At least 14 civilians, including four children, have been killed by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on Bhamo Township of southern Kachin State since Feb. 14. Bhamo is located 120 miles (193 km) south of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina and 58 miles (93 km) southwest of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) headquarters at Laiza.
Fighting between the KIA and the military is ongoing near the Military Operations Command (MOC) 21. “They are now bombing villages around Bhamo. These villages are full of [internally] displaced people hoping to return to their homes as soon as it is safe to do so. But now they are being forced to flee again,” a Bhamo resident staying temporarily at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) told DVB.
The KIA-led resistance forces seized the regime’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 236 on Feb. 20, Tank Battalion 5014 on Feb. 7, Artillery Battalion 366 on Feb. 2, the Bhamo Airport on Jan. 26, Armored Battalion 7006 on Jan. 25, and neighbouring Mansi Township on Jan. 8. Bhamo residents told DVB that the Air Force began airstrikes on areas lost to resistance forces on Feb. 14.
Sagaing draft Interim Constitution criticized
A group called Human Rights Myanmar recommended legal rights and protections be included in the second draft of the Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw Interim Constitution on Monday. It did, however, praise the draft Sagaing constitution, published on Feb. 1, as a “significant improvement over Myanmar’s military drafted Constitution.”
“The draft does not abolish the death penalty, ban cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or guarantee the right to vote and the right to privacy. The draft also fails to enhance fair trial safeguards, ensure judicial independence, establish judicial review, or restrict emergency powers,” Human Rights Myanmar stated in a press release on Feb. 24.
It called on the Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw Interim Constitution to have criteria for selecting judges be based on merit, legal expertise, and impartiality, rather than loyalty to the resistance to the 2021 military coup. It added that the draft constitution does not include safeguards against abuse, much like Burma’s 2008 Constitution, which allows for indefinite restrictions on civil liberties and undermines the rule of law.
Regime signs special economic zone project with Russia
The regime in Naypyidaw signed an agreement with Russia on the construction of a port and an oil refinery in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which is located in the capital of Tanintharyi Region, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development stated on Sunday. It added that the economic feasibility of an oil refinery was “very complicated.”
Russia’s Minister for Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov and regime Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Kan Zaw signed the agreement in Naypyidaw. “The text of the memorandum contains the basic parameters of several large infrastructure and energy projects that are being implemented jointly with Russian companies in [Burma],” stated Reshetnikov.
The Dawei SEZ is a 76-square-mile (196-square-km) project along the Andaman Sea coastline. It plans to host zones for high-tech industrial, information technology, export processing, and transportation, according to Russia. The regime said that the Dawei SEZ can become a key hub for Southeast Asia at the third meeting of its “Central Working Group on Myanmar SEZs” in Naypyidaw on Jan. 14.
News by Region
MAGWAY—The People’s Administration Team under the National Unity Government (NUG) told DVB that eight civilians were killed and at least five others were injured during a military paramotor strike in Sidoktaya Township on Sunday. Sidoktaya is located 81 miles (130 km) northwest from the regional capital Magway.
“A paramotor struck twice over the cottages near the farms in Monyin village,” a People’s Administration Team spokesperson told DVB. At least seven cottages were destroyed and 24 farm animals were killed in the attack. The People’s Defense Force (PDF) urges Sidoktaya residents to prepare air defense measures.
SHAN—The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) claimed that the military used “chemical gas bombs” which injured 10 of its fighters during fighting in Nawnghkio Township of northern Shan State on Sunday. Nawnghkio is located 96 miles (154 km) south of the regional capital Lashio.
“We have no updates on the condition of the four who were severely injured. The battle is still ongoing and the military is using airstrikes, drones and heavy artillery,” a TNLA spokesperson told DVB, adding that those affected experienced dizziness, rapid breathing, nausea, heightened agitation, fatigue and oxygen deprivation.
YANGON—A resistance group calling itself Operation Flame claimed that it launched an attack on the office of the Chief of Police in Hmawbi Township with two remote-controlled homemade explosives on Sunday. Hmawbi is located 30 miles (48 km) north of Yangon.
“One of the explosives did not detonate properly. But we planted two near the entrance gate to the office. We are still trying to confirm the number of casualties,” the group’s spokesperson told DVB, adding that its members who planted the explosives fled to safety after the attack.
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