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The commander and deputy commander of the Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 2, overseen by the 44th Light Infantry Division, have been detained at the battalion’s headquarters for disobeying orders during the military’s recent fighting aMyanmar Junta Detains Battalion Commander, Deputy for Refusing to Fight
The commander and deputy commander of the Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 2, overseen by the 44th Light Infantry Division, have been detained at the battalion’s headquarters for disobeying orders during the military’s recent fighting against combined resistance forces near the border town of Myawaddy in Karen State, according to sources. “The division commander ordered the two to fight. But they didn’t, and returned [to the headquarters]. They have been jailed. More sergeants and corporals from the battalion were sent out to the front line,” said an officer from LIB 2 who asked for anonymity. LIB 2 is based in Mon State’s Kyaikto Township. Its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Arkar Aung and his deputy, Major Kyaw Thu Maung, were put behind bars when they arrived back in Kyaikto on July 21. Resistance forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) occupied a hill-top junta outpost near Myawaddy on Friday following three days of fighting. Junta troops suffered heavy casualties, and survivors fled the outposts. Resistance troops also seized weapons from them, said Cobra Column, one of the resistance groups fighting alongside the KNLA near Myawaddy. The Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA, said on Monday that 10 junta troops were killed and 11 others injured in the resistance raid. A resistance fighter was also killed and four injured. Since the second week of July, clashes have renewed in the area around Lat Khet Tuang Mountain in the west of Myawaddy Township. In March, the Myanmar military replaced Mon State-based Southeastern Command chief Major-General Myat Thet Oo with Brigadier-General Soe Min as part of its regular reshuffle. The KNU and People’s Defense Forces have escalated their joint attacks on regime targets in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. Read more











