At least 51 Myanmar junta troops were killed during five days of repeated attacks by local resistance forces in Tilin Township in the Magwe region between Wednesday and Saturday of last week, according to the Yaw Revolution Army-Tilin (YRA-Tilin).
Some 100 infantry soldiers and a convoy of 32 military vehicles carrying weapons and ammunition faced a series of resistance attacks including land-mine ambushes while traveling from Tilin to Gangaw town.
On Wednesday morning, the YRA-Tilin and the Yaw National Revolution Force-Tilin used land mines to attack an advance unit of 55 troops traveling on the Tilin-Gangaw highway. The unit was tasked with providing security for the military convoy.
Two soldiers were killed and many others injured as they crossed the minefields. The dead and injured were transported to Tilin in two trucks sent by the town’s general administration department office.
The PDF groups continued their attacks on Wednesday afternoon, ambushing an advance unit of 40 troops from the military convoy with anti-personnel mines as they rested in a camp on the highway. More than 26 soldiers were killed and many others were seriously injured in this incident.
Regime forces later burned the bodies of soldiers along with houses in nearby Shwe Khon Taing Village, said YRA-Tilin, citing military informants.
The combined resistance groups went on to attack 10 more soldiers responsible for torching the houses while the small unit was patrolling outside the village. Three soldiers were killed and four others injured. After facing attacks, the military detachment and convoy stopped at Shwe Khon Taing on Wednesday night.
The next day, two more solders from the military detachment were killed by a blast while trying to defuse a mine planted by resistance forces. Video footage shows a soldier being blown up while holding a land mine.
Later that evening, four PDF groups ambushed an advance unit of 10 soldiers, killing seven. Another video shows soldiers trapped on a road and being shot at by resistance forces and snipers taking cover in the hills.
Four more junta troops from the military detachment and convoy were killed in further land-mine ambushes near Say Min Taw Village while traveling to Gangaw on Friday evening. Resistance fighters came across the bodies of four soldiers being buried by their comrades.
On Saturday, the combined resistance force launched a close-range attack on regime patrols traveling behind the military convoy, killing four. A resistance leader also lost his life in the firefight, while another suffered serious injuries from explosives used by junta troops, said YRA-Tilin.
The Yaw’s People Defense Force-YPDF also claimed to have killed three soldiers and injured many others on the Tilin-Gangaw road on Sunday afternoon when it used land mines to attack four military vehicles and 100 troops from Gangaw, apparently on their way to welcome the military detachment and convoy sent from Tilin.
However, some of the military casualties could not be independently verified.
Intense clashes are being reported across the country almost daily, as both junta and resistance forces escalate their attacks.
