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KACHIN STATE – The headquarters of the 88th Infantry Division based in Magway and its subordinate battalions spent the whole day with family members, saying prayers and reciting Buddhist scriptures, according to sources close to the 88th Division.
After Operation 0307 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), fights are intense in Laiza, and the camps where the 88th Division and its subordinates are deployed are being occupied by KIA Forces successively.
“Their (88th) Division forces are forcing the families of the soldiers who were trapped in the retreat from Laiza to pray all day long in the hall. I think there will be casualties,” a source close to the 88th Division told the media.
The headquarters of the 88th Division and 301st and 317 Army Corps are deployed in Magway, and the reciting of the sutra and praying are being done at those bases.
The 88th Division and its subordinate troops have been transferred and deployed in Kachin State for almost two years in the army camps near Laiza City, and their commander is Brigadier General Aung Hein Win.
During the 0307 operation by KIA and joint forces, almost all military bases around the Laiza region were captured, according to ground sources.
The military council army would order its members to perform astrological rituals and say prayers when their battalions are facing losses. During Operation 1027 last November, the military ordered its members to recite 11 Parate Sutras and Mahar Thamaya Sutra nine times a day for exactly nine days. Moreover, the military ordered its troops via telegraph to offer three pieces of gelatin, three pieces of fried grinned-beans, and three pieces of mote lone (glutinous rice balls stuffed with palm sugar) on each of 108 plates to Buddha before reciting the sutras.