Four bodies were found in dumped fields outside villages in western Shwebo Township on Tuesday— including one that was beheaded—after junta troops conducted a pre-dawn raid on Chi Par Village on Sunday in the township in Sagaing Region, according to local resistance forces.
Two of the victims were Han Zaw Myint, 25, a local resistance member and his cousin, 23, who were arrested by junta forces in Shwebo Town last week, according to the Chi Par Village defense group.
“They used the two detainees as human shields and guides. Both detainees were slaughtered and their bodies were found south of the village,” a member of the defense group said.
Another two bodies—yet to be identified— were also discovered in Me Taw Village, the source said.
“We found a man’s body with gunshot wounds in the field this morning and another beheaded body in the west of the village yesterday, ” a villager said.
Around 70 junta soldiers raided Chi Par Village on Sunday morning, targeting a village school used as a resistance base.
Junta troops seized the school and torched motorcycles and other vehicles, residents said.
One village resident was injured during the raid, they said.
The resistance stronghold of Shwebo Township has experienced an escalating campaign of terror by junta troops this year, and its residents have been fighting back with handmade weapons.
At least seven junta troops were killed in a land-mine ambush on Monday after the raid on Chi Par Village, according to the village defense group.
“We ambushed them with mines when they transported rations to Pa Laing [a village controlled by a pro-junta militia] from Chi Par Village on Monday. Seven soldiers were killed by the mine attack,” a resistance fighter said.
The Irrawaddy could not verify the casualty figures.
Resistance forces said they also exchanged gunfire with junta forces about 30 minutes after the land-mine ambush.
Sources said the junta column left Chi Par Village on Tuesday.
A local resistance group involved in coordinated land-mine ambush said they need more weapons and ammunition to attack junta forces.
“We only have a small number of handmade weapons. For the most part, we cannot engage in direct fighting. We can only use homemade mines to attack them,” a member of the group said.
In eastern Shwebo, a vehicle carrying junta troops was also ambushed with land mines on the Shwebo-Kyauk Myaung Road on August 15, killing at least four junta soldiers and injuring one, according to the Shwebo Ranger Defense Force.
On August 16, a junta column raided Gway Pin Kone Village, burning down 16 houses, according to residents.
Resistance forces also clashed with junta infantry near Thea Kyun Village on the same day, killing at least two junta troops, according to Burma Ranger, a resistance group based in eastern Shwebo Township.
The Irrawaddy could not verify the casualty figures.
One Burma Ranger also died in a land-mine explosion on August 16, according to the group.
