Myanmar Guerilla Group Launches Attack on Military Office

The building was targeted because the junta was selling protestors’ property, a militia spokesperson said.

By RFA Burmese

Junta soldiers in Yangon on Feb. 28, 2021.Credit: RFA

An urban guerilla group attacked a major administrative office in Myanmar’s largest city, an official from the rebel organization told Radio Free Asia on Monday.

Urban Special Force, a Yangon-based group opposing the military that seized power in a 2021 coup, took responsibility for shooting long-range shock missiles.

The group shot at the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs on Saturday night because it was an important military target, the official said.

“Things seized from the people who participated in the Spring Revolution were kept in that office. Then the [junta] resold those objects as military’s property,” he said, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.

An administrator from Yangon’s North Okkalapa township, south of the blast site in Mingaladon township, confirmed the attack took place near his residence.

“The office was attacked on the night of the sixth. The junta has tried to hide this news,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons. “From that night until the next day, all roads near the office were closed and checked.”

RFA contacted Yangon region’s junta spokesperson Htay Aung for more information on the extent of the damage, but he did not respond by the time of publication.

Urban Special Forces previously attacked the junta’s air force housing in Yangon’s Insein township on March 8.

Since the military seized power in 2021, urban guerilla-style militia groups have proliferated in Yangon, many aligning themselves with the shadow National Unity Government.

Junta soldiers have tightened security in Yangon region after a series of bomb blasts in some townships since the end of March, according to residents.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.