Struggle In opposition to the Junta
YDF members salute Ko Phyo at his funeral final week. (Provided)
By Hein Htoo Zan 20 October 2022
Yaw Protection Drive (YDF) Deputy Commander Ko Phyo Wai Soe was returning with two comrades from a front-line guerilla operation in Gangaw township after they had been ambushed by regime forces on the afternoon of Oct. 9.
The three YDF fighters had been driving motorbikes after they encountered a bunch of eight junta policemen close to Kyun Khone Thar village, 40 kilometers north of Gangaw city in Magwe Area — a resistance stronghold. Of the three, solely Ko Phyo Wai Soe was armed.
The YDF deputy commander had solely his 9 mm pistol as he and his comrades confronted the closely armed police squad. He was hit in his chest and thigh, whereas his comrade Pwar Lay was shot within the head. Each died within the firefight. The third resistance fighter, Naing Thein, managed to flee again to base to ship information of their deaths.
The premature dying of the 21-year-old technological college student-turned-guerrilla chief was a extreme blow to fellow YDF fighters and supporters of the armed anti-regime resistance.
YDF Commander Ko Myat Thu mentioned Ko Phyo Wai Soe’s passing was an enormous loss for the resistance pressure but additionally additional motivation to uproot Myanmar’s navy dictatorship as this was what their deputy commander had fought for.
“His ultimate phrases had been, ‘I do nothing with out the consent of the folks,’” Ko Myat Thu mentioned.
“We are going to simply strive tougher to realize what he needed.”
‘Excellent younger man’, ‘an individual of untold bravery’
A minimum of a dozen native resistance teams, ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) – together with the Arakan Army and Chinland Protection Drive – and two ministries of the Nationwide Unity Authorities (NUG) have launched statements of condolence, praising the YDF deputy commander as “an excellent younger man” and “an individual of untold bravery.”
In a condolence letter from the NUG’s Ministry of Worldwide Cooperation, Union Minister Dr. Sasa described Ko Phyo Wai Soe as “one of many heroes who sacrificed themselves for the way forward for the nation”, calling his dying an enormous loss not just for the YDF but additionally for the entire of Myanmar.
The highly effective Arakan Army (AA) ethnic armed group described him as a “mannequin” chief within the nation’s battle in opposition to the junta, generally often known as “Myanmar’s Spring Revolution.” The AA praised him not just for his expertise on the battlefield however for main the push to reopen faculties in areas outdoors of junta management the place the YDF operates.
“He was one of many leaders, concerned within the revolution for the reason that earliest days. He was decisive and strong-minded in navy affairs. I salute him with disappointment and reward,” mentioned Ma Grace, platoon commander of the Myaung Ladies Warriors, a regiment of the Civilian Protection Safety Group Myaung (CDSOM) in Magwe Area.
Often called Ko Phyo by his comrades, the deputy commander not solely led troops on the bottom but additionally networked and cooperated with different armed teams, together with EAOs, since their early days of operation. He solid friendships with many different armed resistance teams that emerged within the area after the February 2021 coup, and in addition to with EAOs that had been combating navy dictatorship for many years.
Wealthy child main battle in opposition to brutal junta
YDF is a folks’s armed resistance group based and primarily based in Yaw Territory, Gangaw district, protecting the Gangaw, Htilin, Noticed and Kyaukhtu townships bordering Chin State. The world is now a hotbed of armed resistance to the junta’s navy forces.
YDF is among the many space’s largest resistance teams shaped since final 12 months’s coup, and now boasts 15 items.
It was based simply days after the Feb. 1 coup by Ko Phyo, Ko Myat Thu and two different Yaw residents.
A college pupil and the youngest son of a rich household, Ko Phyo had a contented life with a brilliant future till the navy takeover. In contrast to many wealthy children of his age, he cherished studying and getting concerned in social actions and the scholar union, his colleagues mentioned.
When avenue protests in opposition to the coup first broke out, he and Ko Myat Thu, three years his senior, organized the rallies in Gangaw.
From the start, Ko Phyo believed that solely armed wrestle might root out navy dictatorship. Having made their determination to withstand the coup regime, he and Ko Myat Thu instantly traveled to EAO-controlled areas for primary navy coaching.
They returned to Yaw territory a few months later, and the YDF was born with assist from EAOs in Kachin, Chin and Karen States.
The YDF has supplied robust resistance to regime forces in a number of operations and claims to have killed over 700 junta troops. Ko Phyo was accountable for directing a lot of the battles on the bottom. The Irrawaddy is unable to confirm the variety of casualties claimed.
Ko Phyo was additionally the primary to smuggle Pakistan-made automated rifles via regime checkpoints to resistance fighters in Yaw territory. However nonetheless confronted with a scarcity of automated rifles, he helped produced home made weapons and was engaged on manufacturing contact-explosion cannons.
However he was continually vulnerable to arrest.
In September final 12 months, Ko Phyo was getting back from a gathering to purchase weapons when he was arrested at a junta outpost.
Police and navy personnel came upon he was a YDF member and interrogated him. Ko Phyo informed them he was merely a subordinate and had no critical details about the resistance group. Three days of torture adopted, throughout which was stabbed within the ears by a screwdriver, overwhelmed throughout his physique, and had his crushed by bamboo, Ko Myat Thu recalled.
Fortuitously, his younger age and stoicism satisfied his captors he was telling the reality and so they launched him on parole.
Following his launch, he spent one month in hospital. When he had recovered from his torture accidents, he headed straight again to the entrance line and his YDF comrades.
Escaping peril till the final battle
In February, the YDF joined up with the Myaing Folks’s Protection Drive (Myaing – PDF) to assault a junta outpost in Min Ywar village, Gangaw Township. Although it was described as a police station, the outpost was housing navy troops who had been ready for reinforcements earlier than deploying within the space.
Led by Ko Phyo, the resistance operation was successful with no less than 20 junta forces killed and about 30 injured.
However when Ko Phyo was hit by a bullet that pierced his jaw, entered his chest and severed an artery, his comrades thought he would die on the spot.
“However although badly injured, he gave a thumbs-up and an order to maintain combating,” mentioned a YDF comrade who was combating alongside him.
Fortunately, he survived the battle and recovered from his wounds.
Ko Phyo recalled the expertise in an internet speech to mark the YDF’s one-year anniversary in Might.
“I used to be wounded, so our medics rescued me and took me again to the bottom. My comrades stored combating for an hour, and we had been virtually capable of seize the station. However reinforcements arrived, in order that they needed to fall again. I nonetheless really feel remorse at present about not managing to grab the station,” he mentioned.
Ko Myat Thu mentioned accidents to arteries normally take years to heal however Ko Phyo recovered in simply three months after a strict regime of every day train and dedication.
Nonetheless, Ko Myat Thu and different leaders urged him to take a again seat and command from behind the traces fairly than combating on the bottom.
However he refused and had simply resumed front-line motion when he was caught within the Oct. 9 ambush with simply his 9 mm pistol.
This time there was no escape.
One other who knew Ko Phyo nicely was Maung Saung Kha, commander of the Bamar Folks’s Liberation Army (BPLA) resistance group. He expressed his sorrow over shedding a revolutionary comrade and seeing one more younger life sacrificed in resisting the navy regime.
“To attain our objective, we pay with losses like these. These of us who stay alive must sustain the battle to get the real federation we count on,” Maung Saung Kha informed The Irrawaddy, referring to the democratic federal Union that anti-regime forces are combating for.
