Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Five Days of Resistance Attacks
By The Irrawaddy 24 May 2023
At least 46 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last five days as People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and a Karen ethnic armed organization stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.
Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Magwe, Bago and Tanintharyi regions and Mon and Karen states.
The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and the EAO.
Some military casualties could not be independently verified.
Police outpost raided in Sagaing
Combined resistance forces in action during a raid on the police outpost at Padu Village, Sagaing Township on Monday. / PSF
A fierce, eight-hour-long clash broke out in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region on Monday when several PDF groups jointly attempted to occupy the police outpost in Padu Village, according to the resistance groups that joined the raid.
To protect the police outpost, a Russian Mi-35 helicopter gunship conducted three air strikes during the clash and more reinforcements were flown in by a transport helicopter that evening.
All resistance forces were forced to retreat by junta air raids despite managing to occupy nearly the whole police base and to burn down a prison cell in the compound.
In the clash, at least 10 regime forces and a policeman are thought to have been killed. A PDF fighter suffered serious injuries too.
Regime forces bombed in Tanintharyi
The Dawei Collective Column, which comprises several local resistance groups, said it used 60-mm bombs to attack a police outpost and other regime patrols in Pakari and Pakhat villages in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region on Monday.
On Saturday, five 60-mm bombs and ten 40-mm bombs were used to attack the police outpost in Pakari Village, the resistance group said.
Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured in the attacks, but details of the military casualties were unknown, said the resistance group.
Fierce clashes broke out in Mon
Troops of Albino Tiger Company-1 are seen during two days of clashes with regime forces in Ye Township on May 19 and 20. / Albino Tiger Company 1
Resistance group Albino Tiger Company 1 said at least 30 regime forces are believed to have been killed as it clashed with a military column for two days in Ye Township, Mon State last Friday and Saturday.
First, the resistance groups clashed with a military column near a village in the north of Ye Township on May 19, leaving an estimated 19 soldiers dead.
The next day, the resistance forces blocked and attacked the fleeing military column. Fierce fighting continued as a large number of military reinforcements arrived to the clash site to help their troops.
In the three-hour-long shootout, 11 more soldiers are thought to have been killed, the resistance group claimed.
In the clashes, a resistance fighter suffered minor injuries.
Junta border guard forces raided in Karen
Five border guard forces of the military regime were killed in Hpapun District in Karen State on Saturday when troops of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen Nation Union (KNU), raided a camp of the junta-allied Border Guard Force (BGF), said KNU-Mutraw News, the media wing of KNU Brigade 5.
The BGF camp was extorting money from civilians. The resistance troops also burned a BFG vehicle at their camp.
Regime forces extorting civilians attacked in Magwe
Chauk Guerrilla Force said it coordinated with two other PDF groups to conduct a surprise raid against regime forces extorting civilians near a patrol station outside Pakokku Town in Magwe Region on Monday.
In the raid, two regime forces suffered serious injuries. The resistance groups stopped their raid when a civilian vehicle arrived at the clash site. The resistance groups urged people to avoid regime forces due to potential attacks.
Police outpost and pro-regime village shelled in Magwe
Resistance group Eagle Brigade told local media that it used drones to drop six bombs on a police outpost in Lin Ka Taw Village in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Monday morning, killing or injuring two regime forces.
A PDF aerial video shows smoke emerging from a building after being bombed by a drone.
Regime forces from the police base responded with 40-mm explosives, the PDF group said.
The group said it coordinated with another resistance group to bomb a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia base in the pro-regime village of Kan Ni in Myaing Township by using six improvised rocket-launched bombs on Saturday. It also claimed a militia leader was injured in the shelling.
Another aerial video shot by the PDF group shows a makeshift rocket launcher firing the rocket-propelled bombs.
Pro-junta militia leader assassinated in Bago
Paungde PDF claimed to have killed junta-appointed 100 households administrator Than Naing, a pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia leader in Nyaung Ni Pin Village in Paungde Township, Bago Region on Monday.
Than Naing was a military informant notorious for oppressing residents and recruiting pro-regime militia members, the resistance group said.
