Western Bago Region anti-regime groups claim they killed 20 junta personnel in Minhla Township on Monday.
Several civilians were killed in a vehicle during a crossfire and another was killed when the regime responded with shelling, according to residents.
Thayawady People’s Defense Force (PDF) Battalion 3 said it and three other groups, including the Asho Chin Defence Force, jointly attacked around 60 troops and pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia members advancing into Sin Ai Chaung Pauk village on Monday afternoon.
The PDF said the regime troops retreated after 45 minutes of fighting.
The groups later attacked a police outpost on the Yangon-Pyay road near Sitt Kwin town. The PDF said regime troops from the outpost were extorting money from drivers and forcibly recruiting civilians for military services.
Five regime troops were killed and several others injured, the PDF claimed.
Resistance groups said they blocked the road and attacked a vehicle carrying around 25 regime reinforcements from Sin Ai Chaung Pauk to the police outpost during the attack.
Around 15 regime troops were injured and their vehicle was destroyed, the PDF said.
The PDF said three civilians were killed and four injured by regime shooting on the Yangon-Pyay road after a driver ignored a resistance roadblock.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the PDF reports about the civilian casualties.
A Minhla resident told The Irrawaddy that the road had been blocked since Monday evening. He said traffic continued to flow for around 15 minutes but junta troops opened fire and most drivers turned around.
Clashes continued in the township until Tuesday afternoon. An 80-year-old Phar Lay Kwin villager was killed and another woman injured as the regime shelled nearby villages, the PDF said.
It claimed that an army major, a police station chief and a police district commander were among the 20 regime personnel killed.
