The resistance People’s Defense Force killed at least 22 junta troops and captured eight others alive in an ambush in Mandalay Region’s Natogyi Township on Thursday.
The PDF’s No. 1 Military Region in a statement said it attacked a junta column of approximately 50 troops from Light Infantry Division 99 between the township’s Mya Taung and Sein Pan Kan villages.
The column led by Major Yan Lin Aung and Captain Aung Zaw Min had left Pyin Si village in the morning.
“Following the clashes, we recovered 21 bodies of junta troops, including Capt. Aung Zaw Min. We later received reports that Maj. Yan Lin Aung, who had been injured, died during the retreat. We captured eight junta troops alive,” the PDF said.
Combined PDF forces and local resistance groups launched the Myingyan District Special Operation, the first of its kind in the plains region, late last year. Its goal is to liberate all four townships in the district—Myingyan, Taung Tha, Natogyi, and Nganzun—from junta troops and allied militias.

In Thursday’s ambush, the PDF also seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition despite junta air support for its ground troops with a Mi-35 helicopter.
Natogyi and Myingyan are predominantly Bamar-populated areas on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River south of Mandalay city. News of such dramatic ambushes has previously been more common from mountainous areas where ethnic armed groups dominate.
According to the alternative National Unity Government (NUG)’s Ministry of Defense, the PDF has also decimated three other junta military columns, each comprising dozens of troops.
These include an outfit calling itself the Ogre Column, which was responsible for numerous atrocities in Sagaing Region. Under attack from the PDF in May 2024, it suffered at least 42 casualties including the commander.