35 Junta Forces Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks
By The Irrawaddy 6 March 2023
At least 35 Myanmar junta troops including allied Pyu Saw Htee militia were killed in the last three days as People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and an ethnic armed organization (EAO) hit regime targets across the country.
Deadly clashes were reported in Magwe, Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Mon State.
The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks by PDFs and the EAO.
Some military casualties could not be independently verified.
Seven soldiers and militia killed by PDFs in Magwe
A PDF drone drops a bomb on a military detachment in Myaing Township on Sunday. /Myaing-PDF
Five regime personnel and two pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia members were killed and 14 injured in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Sunday when combined PDF groups attacked a military detachment with land mines and drone strikes, according to Myaing-PDF, which coordinated the attacks.
Junta troops and allied militia were ambushed while returning to the pro-regime village of Kani after buying rations in Myaing town on Sunday.
The detachment had also been ambushed by PDFs several times while heading to Myaing for supplies on Saturday.
Regime forces bombarded by PDF drones in Magwe
Yesagyo-PDF said it used drones to drop bombs on a military detachment of 40 troops between two villages in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region on Sunday.
The attack yielded a large number of military casualties.
Three regime forces were also injured in the township last Friday when they were hit by a drone strike as they checked civilians on a road between Zeegone and Kone Talin villages.
On the same day, the PDF group used six land mines to ambush regime forces traveling in three vehicles outside Yesagyo town, the PDF group said. Two junta soldiers were killed in a friendly-fire incident during the blasts, which also damaged two regime vehicles.
Regime forces attacked in Sagaing
At least 10 regime troops are thought to have been killed or injured on Sunday morning when five PDF groups combined to attack junta forces in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region, according to the Special Attacking Force-Upper Burma, which took part in the assault.
Pro-junta militia leader assassinated
Urban Guerrilla Force-Kalay informed local media that it assassinated the pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia leader Phoe Chan in the town of Kale, Sagaing Region on Sunday.
The militia leader had raped and killed a 15-year-old girl at a village in Kale Township, according to locals. He was also involved in looting, robbery and junta atrocities in the area, the PDF group said.
Junta police outpost bombed by Sagaing PDF drone
At least six regime forces were injured in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday when four PDF groups used drones to drop bombs on a police outpost at Shein Makhar village, said Eagle Guerrilla Force, which joined the attack.
Military convoy hit by lethal mine ambushes
At least five regime forces were killed in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region last Friday when four PDF groups conducted land-mine ambushes against a convoy of 13 vehicles traveling from Sagaing to Monywa, said the People’s Army to Fight Dictatorship (PAFD), which coordinated the attacks.
The combined PDF groups first used land mines to ambush the convoy on the Sagaing-Monywa road at 1.40 pm, killing two soldiers and damaging their vehicle.
Three more soldiers were killed soon after when the convoy ran into two more PDF mine ambushes on the same highway, PAFD said.
Six junta soldiers killed by resistance ambush in Mon
Six regime forces were killed and five seriously injured in Kyaikhto Township, Mon State last Friday when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and Kyaikhto Revolution Force (KRF) jointly attacked regime patrols on the Yangon-Mawlamyaing Highway, said KRF.
Four junta troops killed by drones in Mandalay
A drone drops bombs on regime targets at the village in Madaya Township last Friday. /Nagar Nyi Naung PDF
The Nagar Nyi Naung PDF group reports that it killed four junta soldiers in a drone strike on regime forces stationed at a former police outpost at Yone Pin village in Madaya Township, Mandalay Region last Friday.
The PDF’s video shows a drone dropping bombs on regime targets at a village.
Mandalay ward administration office bombed
Urban guerrilla force Aung Si Taw-Mandalay said it threw a grenade into the junta-controlled ward administration office of Chan Mya Tharsi Taung in Mandalay city on Saturday night. Casualty numbers are not known.
