The People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Magway Region told DVB on Wednesday that it seized a regime outpost on the Salin-Sidoktaya road in Magway on April 12. Salin and Sidoktaya are located 81 miles (130 km) northwest of the region’s capital Magway.
“That road section is important for transporting military weapons and equipment,” a PDF spokesperson told DVB. “This is the first time we’ve captured an outpost on that road.”
The PDF was ordered to halt all offensive operations by the National Unity Government (NUG) during its original two-week ceasefire, March 30-April 13, which was extended to April 20.
This means that the PDF must not re-engage with regime forces to allow earthquake relief aid to reach survivors unhindered, but the NUG ceasefire does allow fighting in cases of self-defense against regime attacks.
“People already suffering from the earthquake are now dealing with military attacks too,” said Win Myat Aye, the NUG Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Minister.
On April 12, the NUG held a press conference to call on the international community to establish a mechanism to monitor violations of the regime’s ceasefire, which is April 2-22.
Residents of Sagaing Region told DVB that regime airstrikes killed six civilians April 12-13.
Five people, including three monks, were killed at a monastery in Kyarkhat village, located 60 miles (97 km) north of the region’s capital Monywa, on April 12. Another civilian was killed and three were injured in Taze Township, located 90 miles (145 km) northeast of Monywa, on April 13.
DVB data states that 153 air and artillery attacks have been carried out by regime forces nationwide since April 2. A total of 216 regime attacks have killed 151 people and injured 269 since the earthquake on March 28.
The death toll from the earthquake is 4,410, with 2,849 of these bodies being recovered in Mandalay, according to DVB data. Mandalay is 14 miles (22 km) east of the earthquake’s epicenter in Sagaing Township, which is located 67 miles (107 km) west of Monywa.
Several ethnic armed groups have declared their own ceasefires during the month of April to allow earthquake relief to reach those in need.
This includes the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—known collectively as the Brotherhood Alliance–as well as the Kachin Independence Army.
The NUG was established in April 2021, following the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup led by Min Aung Hlaing that ousted the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. The PDF is the armed wing of the NUG.
Several NLD members, ethnic nationality leaders, and human rights activists, make up the NUG leadership. It rejects a return to military rule in Myanmar and wants to establish the country as a federal democratic union.
