Myanmar Civilian Forces Claim Dozens of Junta Troops Killed in Mine Attacks, Ambushes

By The Irrawaddy 15 December 2021

Around 60 junta soldiers were reportedly killed within three days in ambushes by civilian resistance groups in Sagaing Region and Mon State.

Three civilian resistance fighters were also killed during the operations against regime forces in Sagaing Region, according to the People’s Defense Force (PDF).

On Wednesday morning, members of the Mingin People’s Defense Force used landmines to ambush a military detachment of 70 junta troops, including militia trained and armed by the military, in Mingin Township, according to a spokesperson for the resistance group.

The Mingin-PDF claimed 10 regime personnel were killed in the ambush.

After the ambush, regime forces entered Peikkayar Village and burned down the house of ousted NLD lawmaker U Aung Tun Lwin.

The regime forces also faced a second landmine attack by the Mingin-PDF after leaving the village. In the attack, 10 regime forces were killed and many others wounded, the Mingin-PDF said.

On the previous day, regime forces reportedly burned houses including the home of a former elected village administrator during raids on Htongyi, Thitkhaungtee and Winwa villages in Mingin Township.

Two civilians were reportedly injured by landmines planted by regime forces while returning home to put out the fire. A married couple were killed and burned together with a house during the raids, according to the local PDF.

Thousands of residents of about five villages in Mingin Township have fled their homes due to the junta’s raids, according to the Mingin-PDF.

On Wednesday morning, the Sheinmagar-PDF claimed to have killed four regime troops including the head of a police station, while PDFs ambushed regime forces with six landmines on the Sheinmagar highway in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region.

A junta vehicle overturned in the mine attack, the group said.

The Wetlet-PDF also said that a civilian resistance fighter died during a mission against regime forces in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday.

At noon on Wednesday, three junta soldiers were killed and two others were seriously wounded when Taze-PDF members ambushed 15 soldiers patrolling on foot in Taze Township, Sagaing Region.

Those injured and the bodies of those killed were evacuated from the area in a civilian vehicle, the Taze-PDF said.

It said it also ambushed a vehicle carrying members of a military-trained and armed Pyu Saw Htee group using landmines in Taze Township on Tuesday evening.

There were many militia casualties in the ambush, according to the Taze-PDF.

Taze People Comrades, a civilian resistance group, also claimed to have killed two regime troops and injured six others during a mine attack in the township on Monday.

On Wednesday, the military regime made a rare confession via a junta-controlled state newspaper, confirming the deaths of two junta police and some other injuries in attacks by the PDF in Taze.

The regime said its troops were attacked with landmines while returning after inspecting the murders of five villagers in Ywarthayar Village in Taze on Monday evening.

The Kani-PDF also claimed to have killed around 10 junta soldiers during an attack on a military flotilla of vessels stranded on a sandbank in the Chindwin River in Kani Township, Sagaing Region on Monday at midnight.

While being attacked by the PDF with heavy explosives, the military flotilla was also hit by mines on a raft sent towards it by the members of the defense force, the Kani-PDF said.

The Kani-PDF also said that one of its members was accidently killed in an explosion while planting landmines to attack regime forces in the township on Tuesday evening.

On Tuesday morning, at least 20 junta soldiers were reportedly killed when the People’s Army to Fight Dictatorship ambushed three military vehicles using eight mines in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region.

The Pale-PDF claimed that it attacked a military detachment of 40 junta soldiers by using remote-controlled mines in Pale Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning. Military casualties are unknown.

One civilian resistance fighter was killed during a shootout with the regime forces near a village in Pale Township on Monday morning, according to the People’s Revolutionary Army, which joined the fighting.

On Monday night, a combined force of the Thaton People’s Guerillas and Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, raided regime forces stationed in a village in Thaton Township, Mon State.

The combined force used several 40mm rounds in attacking the regime forces, according to the Thaton People’s Guerrillas.

The group claimed to have killed three regime troops and injured seven others in the attack.

Military forces are now facing increasingly frequent and intense attacks from PDFs and many ethnic armed groups across the country.

Myanmar’s regime has continued to arbitrarily kill civilians, burn civilians alive, use civilian detainees as human shields, bombard residential areas and loot and burn houses, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin, Shan and Kayah states, where the PDFs are most active.

By Tuesday, 1,339 people had been slain and another 10,946 people including elected government leaders detained by the junta since the Feb. 1 coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

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