More than 40 Myanmar junta troops were killed and some civilian resistance fighters were injured during intense firefights in Kayah State and Sagaing Region on Monday.
On Monday morning, an intense firefight between junta soldiers and a combined force of the People’s Defense Force-Katha (PDF-K) and the ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke out in Katha Township, Sagaing Region.
During the firefight, more than 40 junta soldiers were killed and many others were wounded, while no casualties were reported among the combined civilian forces, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense of the National Unity Government (NUG).
Following the clash, the PDF-K urged people using the Katha-Banmauk Highway and traveling in the north of the township to be aware that there would be more firefights in the area.
In May, the KIA also joined the civilian resistance fighters of the PDF-K during a fierce clash with military regime forces in Katha.
During the firefight, eight junta soldiers were killed and 13 seriously injured, while five civilian resistance fighters were killed and one was arrested by the military.
Two firefights between junta forces and a combined force of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the Karenni Army (KA), the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party, also broke out near Daw Poese Villlage in Demoso Township, Kayah State on Monday morning and evening.
The KNDF claimed that junta forces wearing civilian clothes attacked the Karenni armed forces from civilian houses in the village.
During the firefights, a civilian resistance fighter was killed and some others were wounded. However, the extent of the military casualties remains unknown.
Junta forces used heavy explosives, and many houses in nearby villages were destroyed by the military’s artillery shells, the KNDF said.
Myanmar has seen increasingly intense clashes between junta forces and civilian armed resistance fighters and ethnic armed groups across the country since the declaration of a People’s Defensive War against the junta by the NUG on Sept. 7.
Junta forces have escalated not only their inspections and arrests but also the violence and number of their raids including burning down villages and cutting off internet access, especially in Chin and Kayah states and Magwe and Sagaing regions.
Meanwhile, civilian resistance fighters of the People Defense Forces across the country have stepped up their operations against junta forces and destroyed junta-owned Mytel telecom masts in numerous locations.
As of Monday, 1,114 people had been killed by junta forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
A total of 6,637 people including elected government leaders have been detained by the junta and more than 1,980 people face arrest warrants.
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