At least 170 Myanmar junta troops were reportedly killed in the last five days as People’s Defense Force groups (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) escalated attacks on regime targets across the country.
Last Friday, three powerful ethnic armed groups jointly launched the anti-regime Operation 1027, attacking and seizing military bases and towns across northern Shan State.
Incidents were reported in Shan State and Mandalay, Sagaing, Magwe, Bago and Tanintharyi regions.
The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs.
Some military casualties could not be independently verified.
Almost 60 junta bases seized in three days of anti-regime Operation 1027 in Shan
At least 57 Myanmar junta bases including police stations were seized during the first three days of anti-regime “Operation 1027” in several townships in northern Shan State through Sunday.
The operation was launched on Friday with coordinated attacks by the Brotherhood Alliance comprising the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA).
Over 100 junta troops were killed and many others were arrested in the first three days of the operation, according to reports from the ethnic armed groups.
The MNDAA said it seized 15 junta bases including the strategic hilltop base in Chin Shwe Haw in a single day on Saturday. In the raid on the key junta base in Chin Shwe Haw, 15 regime forces were killed and two tanks were destroyed while a large haul of weapons and ammunitions was also seized, the group said.
It also claimed to have killed over 70 out of more than 80 paratroopers dropped by a military transport airplane in the Chin Shwe Haw area, captured three paratroopers and seized weapons and ammunition dropped by the airplane.
Clashes break out in northern Shan, upper Mandalay Region
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said it and the Mandalay PDF group attacked regime forces stationed at Kyauk Kyan Village in Nawnghkio Township, Northern Shan State on Sunday, forcing the regime forces to flee the village.
In the raid, 12 military weapons and some ammunition were seized and resistance forces found eight bodies of dead soldiers left behind at the clash site. On the same morning, TNLA and PDF groups based in Mogoke Township jointly attacked a military unit advancing near Ahtet Nyaung Kone Village.
TNLA troops also attacked a military base in Lashio Township, northern Shan State on the same day. All attacks were part of anti-regime Operation 1027, the TNLA said.
Junta suffers heavy losses in coordinated resistance attack in Mandalay
Joint resistance forces engage in a clash with regime forces after conducting drone strikes on a military checkpoint in Taungtha Township last Friday. / Myingyan District Army 3
At least 20 regime forces were killed and seven injured in Taungtha Township, Mandalay Region last Friday when nine resistance groups including many PDF battalions raided a military checkpoint of 30 troops on the Taungtha-Myingyan Road after using drones to bomb the base, said Taungtha Youth Force, which forms Myingyan District PDF Battalion 3 and took part in the attacks.
Other resistance members from the combined group used land mines and heavy explosives to ambush four military vehicles carrying reinforcements at a mid-way point while they were heading from Taungtha town to a military checkpoint being raided by the resistance.
In the ambush, three military trucks overturned and 10 regime forces were killed, Taungtha Youth Force said.
A resistance video shows PDF forces engaging in a clash with regime forces after drone strikes on a military checkpoint.
Junta arsenal burned by drone strikes in Sagaing
The arsenal building at Police Battalion 16 in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region was burned down on Saturday when resistance groups including drone units used a drone to bomb the police base and another military checkpoint in the township, said Federal Wings, a known resistance drone unit that joined the attack.
Details of damage and military casualties were unknown.
Five junta police killed in Sagaing
Shwebo district PDF Battalion 23 said it and four resistance groups threw three grenades into a group of five junta policemen having a drink in the house of police Captain Thein Nan Win in Shwebo Town, Sagaing Region on Saturday.
All the policemen were killed in the attack, the combined resistance group claimed. Last Friday, the combined groups also attacked a group of junta soldiers, policemen and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members extorting money from civilian vehicles in the Shwebo Industrial Zone in Shwebo Township, killing a regime soldier and injuring many others.
Clash erupts in Magwe
Resistance members engage in a clash with a military unit in Yesagyo Township on Saturday. / Myingyan Black Tiger
A fierce clash broke out near Shwe Hlan Village in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region on Saturday when three columns of joint resistance groups blocked and attacked a military unit advancing into the area controlled by the resistance groups, said Myingyan Black Tiger, which attacked the junta unit.
During the clash, Column 3 of the joint group was blocked and attacked by the junta unit. More resistance groups from the Yal Lal Kyun River island area and neighboring Myaung Township in Sagaing Region joined the resistance attacks by using drone bombs and improvised mortar rounds to attack junta troops, saving trapped resistance Column 3. On that evening, Column 3 managed to retreat without sustaining casualties.
Four regime forces were killed and five injured in the four-hour clash. But there were no resistance casualties.
Township police station, junta base attacked in Tanintharyi
Joint resistance groups attack a police station in Thayetchaung Township last Wednesday. / Thayetchaung PDF
Thayetchaung PDF said it and other resistance groups attacked the township police station and a base of a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia group at Yaung Hmaw Village in Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region at the same time early last Wednesday morning.
During the attacks, six regime forces were killed and five injured, while a resistance fighter suffered minor injuries.
Military convoy ambushed in Tanintharyi
Sixteen junta soldiers were killed and 10 injured in Yephyu Township, Tanintharyi Region last Thursday when five local resistance groups ambushed a military convoy near Yan Kin Village, said Dawei District PDF Battalion 1, which coordinated the attack.
Before the ambush, junta troops traveling with the convoy torched civilian houses in the Nabulal area. In the ambush, a military vehicle was also destroyed. All resistance forces retreated from the ambush site without casualties, the PDF group said.
Army captain shot dead in Bago
Bago Region PDF said its member groups Thayawaddy Galon and Thayawaddy District PDF Battalion 3802 jointly shot dead army Captain Myo San Win, who was in charge of recruiting new soldiers in the area, in Minhla Township, Bago Region on Sunday.
