Dozens of regime troops were killed and another 10 wounded in an attack on a junta outpost in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region last Friday, according to local resistance forces.
Six Gangaw District People’s Defense Force battalions, local resistance groups, and the armed group All Burma Student’s Democratic Front (ABSDF) conducted the coordinated raid on the police outpost at Kan Ywa Village where some 70 junta forces were stationed.
Forty-five junta troops were killed and 10 another injured in the raid, the resistance drone unit Hyper UAV Force claimed. The UAV Force coordinated the raid by conducting drone strikes on regime forces during the attack.
The Irrawaddy could not independently confirm the military casualties.
Aerial videos shot by the Hyper UAV Force show junta troops being bombed repeatedly by the PDF’s drones while defending the resistance attacks on the ground.
After sustaining losses, the junta used two MI-35 military helicopter gunships and a fighter jet to attack resistance forces.
The PDF’s video also shows a fighter jet and helicopter gunships conducting airstrikes while hovering over the site of the clash.
The resistance group said two of its members were killed in the fierce fighting and another PDF fighter lost a leg when a junta landmine exploded. Nine other PDF fighters suffered minor injuries.
The PDF group claimed they had managed to destroy and burn down 75 percent of the junta base but were unable to seize the entire outpost.
Video footage also shows many buildings in the junta base on fire.
On March 30, another fierce clash broke out in Kyaukhtu sub-township in Gangaw District when the Yaw Defense Force (YDF), Kyaukhtu PDF, and Chinland Defense Force-Mindat from neighboring Chin State, jointly attacked a junta column of 130 troops scouring resistance bases on a mountain, said the YDF.
The clash lasted over two hours. The YDF claimed 10 junta soldiers were killed and many others were injured in the firefight.
After the clash, a Russian-made MI 35 helicopter gunship from the North West Military Command airbase in Moywa town, conducted airstrikes in the area.
Junta forces burned down makeshift camps set up by the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled the regime raids, the YDF reported.
