Dozens of Myanmar army soldiers raided an outpost of the Moebye People’s Defence Force (PDF) in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township in the early hours of Wednesday morning, reportedly outnumbering the resistance fighters nearly 10 to one.
Nine PDF troops were guarding the site in Moebye—an abandoned fire station—when a military unit from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 422 carried out an ambush at 1am, a battalion commander from the Moebye PDF told Myanmar Now.
“[The soldiers] arrived while the guards were asleep. They said that they had them surrounded, but our troops tried to defend the outpost while the others tried to find a way out,” he said.
The PDF was forced to retreat from the site.
LIB 422, which is also based in Moebye, fired heavy weaponry during the exchange of gunfire that took place, according to the PDF commander.
One resistance fighter was shot in the leg and is expected to lose his limb due to the injury. Another was reportedly shot in the back. Both are in stable condition.
The Moebye PDF commander speculated that the junta troops also sustained injuries in the battle.
“I think many of them were injured as well as they had more people. Our troops and theirs clashed face to face and exchanged shots at close range. However, few of us were injured as we were fewer in number,” he added.
A woman from a Moebye-based social welfare group estimated that nearly two-thirds of the locals in the area had been displaced by the clash.
“Everyone started to flee when they heard gunshots at around 2am this morning. Some took shelter at churches while others went to nearby villages around Moebye,” she said.
The gunfire lasted from 1am until 4am, she told Myanmar Now, and said some local homes were damaged, but there were no known civilian casualties.
More than 150,000 locals from the Karenni region—including Kayah and southern Shan states—are believed to have been displaced by fighting since the February 1 coup, according to local organisations’ estimates.
In Moebye, in June alone, a total of 88 homes were destroyed by military shellings and arson, according to the Progressive Karenni People’s Force (PKPF), a local youth organisation.
