Military personnel attempt to flee into Bangladesh
Bangladesh officials announced on Tuesday that at least 66 Border Guard Police (BGP) tried to flee Burma during fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Arakan State, but were denied entry into Bangladesh from the Naf River.
“The BGP members wanted to enter Teknaf on two boats. The [Bangladesh] coast guard prevented their entry,” said Mujibur Rahman, a councillor in Teknaf, located in southeastern Bangladesh near the Burma border.
Neither the government of Bangladesh nor the regime in Naypyidaw have confirmed this claim from a local official but on July 11 over 100 military personnel fled into Bangladesh from Maungdaw Township. Hundreds have fled across the border into Bangladesh and India fleeing attacks by Arakan and Chin resistance forces. A Burma Navy vessel repatriated 134 regime personnel on June 9.
NLD party states 76 political prisoners killed in detention
The National League for Democracy (NLD) party stated on Tuesday that 76 political prisoners, including 11 of its members, have died in regime detention due to torture and mistreatment since the 2021 military coup. Twenty-five of them died from a lack of proper medical care, according to the NLD.
“We only received two boiled eggs, and that too only four days a week. The chickpea soup had very few chickpeas,” a political prisoner recently released from Magway Prison told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
The Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) reported that 40 prisoners transferred from Mandalay to Magway prison on June 16 have been tortured. The NLD added that 1,539 of its members, out of the total 10,924 political prisoners, have been held since Feb. 1, 2021.
Civil society calls for targeted sanctions against regime
Civil Society group Progressive Voice, along with 240 local and international organizations, called for coordinated sanctions on the Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) on Monday.
“The [military] has used state-owned enterprises, particularly state-owned banks and revenues from the MOGE, to fund its atrocities, purchase weapons and aviation fuel and access international financial markets,” said the joint statement.
The 240 civil society groups want the international community to follow recommendations made by Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, to place sanctions on the state banking, aviation fuel and oil sectors. Andrews documented that banks in Thailand have processed over $120 million USD in purchases for the regime’s Ministry of Defence.
News by Region
MON—A bridge in Kayinlay Seik village, which connected Bilin and Thaton townships along the Mawlamyine-Yangon Road was destroyed in an explosion on Tuesday. This has caused transportation difficulties for those traveling between the capital of Mon State and Yangon.
“We heard the sound of an explosion that night. The entire bridge collapsed,” said a Thaton resident. No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the destruction of the bridge.
MANDALAY—The Mandalay People Defense Force (MPDF) stated on Tuesday that it has seized control of two more military outposts, which includes the Alpha cement factory, in Madaya Township.
“The soldiers set fire to the outpost and some of the buildings in the factory compound before they abandoned it,” said a MPDF spokesperson. Twenty-eight military outposts have come under MPDF control in Madaya since Operation Shan-Man, which refers to the twin offensives in Mandalay and northern Shan State, was launched on June 25.
NAYPYIDAW—A group calling itself the Mountain Knights Civilian Defense Force claimed that 16 military personnel, including four officers, were killed when it fired nine missiles at the Aye Lar Air Force base on Tuesday. It also claimed that it destroyed one aircraft and damaged two others.
“They arrested two civilians, accusing them of being People’s Defense Force members, and sent them to Lewe Police Station,” a source told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Naypyidaw residents claimed that soldiers arrested at least 15 people and increased security around the regime’s capital after the attack.
ARAKAN—Retaliatory airstrikes and attacks from the sea were carried out by the Burma Air Force and Navy, which trapped residents of Thandwe inside their homes on Tuesday. The AA has evacuated an unknown number of residents living near the military outposts that it has seized in Thandwe town. Some residents reported that their phones were confiscated by AA troops.
“I haven’t been able to reach my family for four days. I don’t know where they are and what is going on in the town either,” said a Thandwe resident who fled his home on July 13. Many homes and a district hospital in Thandwe were destroyed in the airstrikes. Residents remaining in the town are facing a shortage of medicine and food due to military blockades. Some telecommunications networks were also shut down.
