Combined resistance forces briefly captured a junta battalion headquarters in Shwekyin Township, Bago Region last Thursday—only to lose it again when massive reinforcements arrived.
The parallel National Unity Government (NUG) on Sunday said that its own armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) jointly overran the headquarters of Light Infantry Battalion 598 at Nyaung Chay Htauk Village in Shwekyin.
The PDF’s Yangon Regional Command said resistance forces seized some 80 weapons together with ammunition and three anti-drone jammers during the attack.
It said 30 regime soldiers were found dead at the base and six were arrested with seven of their family members.
The battalion commander and another 50 regime soldiers fled.
A PDF video shows resistance troops raiding the base and seizing several weapons.
The regime made a rare admission on Sunday that its troops had to retreat due to the huge numbers of “terrorist forces.”
But after three days of fighting, junta reinforcements managed to retake the base with the support of airstrikes and artillery attacks on Saturday.
The regime said its reinforcement were able to rally the soldiers who had fled the battalion HQ.
It added that “some” military personnel were killed or injured in the fighting but added its own troops found the bodies of six PDF/KNLA troops along with weapons and ammunition.
On Friday, the KNLA and allies also seized the regime’s Hteekhee base on the Thai border in Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei Township.
The KNLA is an armed wing of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic political organization, the Karen National Union, which has trained and armed several thousands of anti-regime activists since the 2021 coup. It has also helped the civilian National Unity Government with the formation of People’s Defense Forces.
They are now fighting the regime in Karen and Mon States and Tanintharyi and Bago Regions and have attacked regime targets in the administrative capital Naypyitaw.