A group of 23 Myanmar junta soldiers surrendered with their weapons to a joint resistance force on Monday after admitting defeat in a clash in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State that left many of their fellow soldiers dead, according to the Defense Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).
People’s Defense Force groups, armed units under the control of the NUG, along with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the country’s oldest ethnic rebel group the Karen National Union (KNU), had been attempting to seize the military outpost at the Attran Bridge in Chaung Hna Khwa Village since Nov. 10.
After occupying the village’s junta-controlled police station, the resistance groups managed to occupy the military outpost at the bridge on Monday.
A total of 23 junta troops from a 50-strong reinforcement unit of the military’s 22nd Division surrendered to the resistance groups after losing 14 comrades, including their battalion commander, in the resistance attack, the NUG Defense Ministry said. Another five soldiers were captured in the clash.
Eight others including an army officer are missing.
During the resistance attack, the junta forces responded with indiscriminate air strikes that killed two children, according to the Karen Information Center, a local Karen media outlet.
Military bases nearby continued to shell the area after resistance forces took control of the bridge, which links Kyaikmayaw Township and Karen State’s Kyainseikgyi Township.
Residents of several villages near the clash site fled their homes, local media outlets reported, citing residents.
