Seven killed by airstrikes in Magway Region
Seven civilians were killed and at least 20 others were injured by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force in Kangyi village of Myaing Township in Magway Region on Thursday, according to the residents. Fighting between regime forces and the People’s Defence Force (PDF) has been ongoing since late October. Myaing is located 131 miles (210 km) north of the region’s capital Magway.
“Five people were dead on the spot and two others succumbed to their wounds at the hospital,” a Myaing resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Residents told DVB that this was the fourth airstrike on Kangyi village since January. At least 1,527 people have been killed and 3,462 have been injured by airstrikes since March 28. At least 1,441 people were killed in 743 airstrikes in 2024, according to DVB data.
Residents in Myaing, Pauk, Seikphyu and Yesagyo townships told DVB that regime forces launched a counteroffensive in October after PDF-led resistance forces seized two regime outposts in Pauk, located 136 miles (218 km) north of Magway. Nearly 35,000 residents of Pauk have been displaced from their homes due to fighting, according to residents.
Two ethnic armed groups suspend NUCC membership
The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Karen National Union (KNU) told DVB that they have submitted letters temporarily suspending their memberships to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) earlier this week, but that they’ve received no response yet. The NUCC was established on March 8, 2021–following the military coup–as an advisory body to the National Unity Government (NUG).
Aung San Myint, the KNPP secretary, told DVB that the group had “slight differences” with other member organizations in interpretations and approaches to federalism in Burma. Naung Cho, an NUCC member, told DVB that they are negotiating to draft the interim constitutional framework and reach a common ground. DVB is still awaiting a comment from KNU representatives on its NUCC membership suspension.
After the first People’s Assembly in 2022, the National League for Democracy (NLD), ousted in the coup, and the Kachin Political Interim Coordination Team (KPICT), left the NUCC. In 2024, representatives from the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and the NUG did not attend the final day of the People’s Assembly. The All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) is the only armed group left in the NUCC.
Sagaing Region’s interim federal democratic ‘unit’ established
The Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw (SFUH) elected Soe Oo, the NLD member of parliament for Sagaing Township No. 1 in the Sagaing Region Hluttaw from 2020-21, as Prime Minister of the Sagaing Federal Unit Interim Government on Monday. Myint Htwe and Phyu Phyu Win, two other NLD members of parliament ousted in the 2021 coup, were elected as chairperson and vice-chairperson of the SFUH.
“This is the first bottom-up process in the region, so everyone needs to help and support it,” Kyaw Wai Phyo, the president of the Federation of Sagaing Forum, told DVB. He added that the Federation of the Sagaing Forum is a coordination body working alongside the SFUH to establish a federal democratic Sagaing Region “to advance the revolution.”
SFUH interim Prime Minister Soe Oo previously served as the Minister of Planning and Finance in the Sagaing Region government from 2015-2020. Myint Htwe and Phyu Phyu Win were first elected in 2015 and re-elected in the 2020 general elections, representing the NLD in Ye-U Township Constituency No. 2 and Kawlin Township Constituency No. 1 in the Sagaing Region Hluttaw. Read more
News by Region
CHINLAND—Resistance forces recaptured the Mount Kennedy outpost in Tedim Township on Tuesday after losing it to the military on Nov. 4, according to the People’s Defence Force (PDF)-Zoland. Tedim is located 68 miles (109 km) north of the state capital Hakha.
The PDF-Zoland first seized the outpost in November 2023. The source told DVB that resistance and regime forces are fighting for control of Taingen village, which was recaptured by the military on Nov. 9. Chinland has a total of nine townships. The regime controls Hakha and Thantlang, as well as parts of Tedim.
YANGON—Residents in North Okkalapa Township told DVB that an unknown number of regime administrators were injured during a grenade attack on an administration office in Shwepaukkan ward on Wednesday. A group calling itself the Yangon Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
A group spokesperson told DVB that they attacked pro-regime militias and administrators gathered inside the office. Military personnel set up checkpoints in North Okkalapa to inspect pedestrians following the attack. The group claimed that it carried out an attack in Hlegu Township on Nov. 18.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Chairperson Khin Yi told supporters to “punch him in the face” if he failed to deliver on his campaign promises during a rally at Thuwunna Stadium on Wednesday. He pledged free travel tickets for junior “government” staff, more jobs, and relief from rising commodity prices.
A political analyst told DVB that former USDP Chairperson Than Htay said the same while campaigning in the 2010 elections. The USDP reportedly won 28 seats in the Pyitthu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, as well as in state and regional parliaments due to a lack of competition on Oct. 28, according to the Union Election Commission (UEC).
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