Lee had received prior warning from the army intelligence that the rebels might attack the Mission Control Centre early in the morning. With the intention to confront the rebels, Lee left his bed at dawn. The previous night, three tanks and two APCs were brought to Minbya. Those three tanks were kept next to the Hin Thor Lake and the APCs in the yard behind the Mission Control Centre, so that they could be used on a very short notice. At ten in the morning, with the help of the CCTV camera, Lee noticed two autos approaching the Mission Control Centre from Minbya Market. Immediately Lee became suspicious. He alerted the guards at the gates, the APCs behind the building and ordered the tanks to come to the Mission Control Center.
Sajed had been in the auto which was leading the way. He was giving directions to the driver. When the auto was fifty yards from the Mission Control Centre, with a loud boom the gate blew off as the rebels fired an RPG at it. They faced the two APCs from two sides when they entered the premises. It was an unexpected obstacle for them. The heavy machine guns of the APCs became active and the four rebels including Sajed were forced to take shelter in the guard room. They began firing back at the APCs. The other associates of Sajed stood by the boundary wall and kept firing from their position. Suddenly, the sound of tanks alerted the rebels. They turned around and saw a tank approaching them from the Minbya Market.
“We have tanks charging at us!” one of them shouted at Sajed.
Sajed and his three associates ran out of the guard box and returned to the auto. In the meantime, the two drivers of the autos had disappeared. Opposite Tatmadaw’s Mission Control Centre, the Cartoon Lake Road ran to the west. The rebels began moving along the Cartoon Lake Road to the west when they saw another tank approaching them from the other end of the road. They changed the direction of their auto and began moving along the Office Road. A third tank rushing at the rebels from the other end of the Office Road made the rebels abandon their autos. By this time, the rebels had almost been surrounded. The only option left before them was to take refuge at the Minbya Church. Inside the church, the janitors had been cleaning and doing their work when the noise of gunfire stopped them. After rushing in, the rebels locked the front door of the church. They took their positions along the windows and began firing from there. Within five minutes, the troops of Tatmadaw surrounded the church from all sides, and the three tanks were also with them. Lee ordered the three APCs to remain inside the Mission Control Centre.
It was time for Lee to bring in the media. He gave permission to the international media to arrive at the scene. He didn’t want to miss the opportunity to show the world what the Tatmadaw was up against, in the province of Rakhain. When the journalists arrived with their cameras and men, soldiers and rebels had been busy exchanging gunfire. Therefore, Lee told them to maintain a distance of five hundred yards while airing the situation.
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Sporadic clashes continued between the rebel forces and the troops of Tatmadaw till ten in the morning while the entire world kept watching the unfolding drama. By this time, Lee had conversations with the journalists. During these interviews, he looked very cheerful and confident. He did not hesitate to describe how he had managed to repel the rebels at Ku Daung as well.
Meanwhile, the besieged rebels were discussing among themselves what their next step should be. By then Karim had no appetite left in him for bloody battles. Continuously he kept telling Sajed for truce or surrender. It was already clear to the rebels that they had stepped into a trap.
“Somehow, if we manage to get out of this trap alive, I swear, I’m going to kill Kasem and his bosses,” Sajed fumed at kasem.
“They’ve set up a trap for us. I’ve no doubts, Kasem’s dirty hands are in it,” Sajed’s lieutenant standing next to him hissed out his anger and frustrations.
Karim was about to burst out in tears as he whimpered, “Be realistic guys. I don’t think there’s any way out of this trap. Might as well lay down our arms.”
Sajed, a seasoned fighter, glared at Karim. The usual friendly approach to Karim had run dry. “Why the hell did you get into this business, in the first place? This is no business for chicken shits,” he yelled out at Karim, contemptuously.
“Kasem Bhai said, we wouldn’t be in any kind of bloody battle. He sounded so convincing. Apart from that, did I really have any choice?” Karim said apologetically.
“Hell, you don’t! Now shut up and accept what destiny has dished out to you. We’re all in the same boat, aren’t we? I don’t see anyone else whining about it. So, please, not now! Stop it! I’m trying to figure out an escape plan,” Sajed shot back at Karim.
“We could take the janitors as hostages,” Sajed’s second in command suggested.
“No way! We’re no terrorists!” the rest of the team exclaimed.
“As you can see, your associates don’t really like the idea, and I don’t blame them. After all, if we’re to die, what’s the point of dying as terrorists?” Sajed pointed out to his second in command. “I say, we surrender,” after a pause he added.
“During captivity, they’re going to torture. They might as well kill us,” Sajed’s second in command argued.
“Of course, the possibility is real. However, in the end, we might find ourselves lucky to be alive. I don’t mind putting our hopes on organizations like the International Human Rights Watch.”
Subsequently, Sajed took out his white underwear under his black shirt and tied it to the gun barrel as a white flag. Around eleven in the morning, they slightly opened the front gate of the church and displayed the white flag to the soldiers. Even after displaying it for a while, it didn’t seem to attract the attention of the soldiers. Matter of fact, after noticing the white flag, they increased their firing. Realizing the true intention of Lee, “Get ready to lay down your lives for the cause of our homeland,” Sajed told his men.
By twelve noon, a platoon of shock troops gathered around the Mission Control Centre. Lee planned to exterminate the rebels with the help of the shock troops. He was already informed that the rebels wanted to surrender, but Lee had another design. He imposed some restrictions on news transmission so that the news of the rebels showing white flag could not reach the international media. The following hour, he was getting ready to begin his assault on the rebel positions.