Resistance fighters active along the border between Chin State and Magway Region say they have inflicted heavy casualties on regime forces in a series of ambushes that began late last week.
The latest incident occurred on Tuesday, when around 20 soldiers and police came under attack at around 9am while patrolling the town of Kyaukhtu in Magway Region.
At least seven junta soldiers were killed and several others were injured in the ensuing hour-long clash, according to Wai La, the spokesperson for the Kyaukhtu People’s Defence Force (PDF).
“The patrolling column was attacked with explosives and then the revolutionary forces opened fire on them using light weapons. We ultimately had to retreat as 40 more soldiers and a tank from the artillery unit arrived,” he said.
A local resident told Myanmar Now that the incident also forced people living in four villages near Kyaukhtu to flee their homes.
“We ran into the woods in a panic when we heard the gunshots. We only went back when the shooting stopped,” he said.
He added that a logistics helicopter landed in Kyaukhtu at around 10am, dropping off soldiers and weapons before leaving for Mindat in Chin State with a number of the wounded.
Myanmar Now has been unable to independently verify how many regime forces were killed or injured in the attack.
The ambush in Kyaukhtu came a day after the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) reported that it had clashed with junta troops near an airport under construction north of the town of Kanpetlet.
At least six military personnel, including an army captain, were killed in the fighting, according to a spokesperson for the CDF’s Kanpetlet chapter.
The regime troops involved in the clash belonged to two of three military columns that had been marching towards Kanpetlet from Kyaukhtu since late last week.
Last Friday, Kanpetlet CDF fighters mounted attacks on all three columns, each of which had around 100 troops, the group’s spokesperson told Myanmar Now.
“They fired at us non-stop, because they had an unlimited supply of bullets. But we could only fire so many shots because our supply of ammunition is limited,” he said.
Despite being outgunned, the CDF fighters managed to kill seven junta troops before being forced to retreat, he added.
The attacks failed, however, to prevent the regime’s forces from reaching Kanpetlet, where around 450 junta troops are currently stationed in schools, police stations, and other public buildings.
“Yesterday’s fight taught us a lesson. We had no choice but to let them pass, because they had much stronger firepower,” the Kanpetlet CDF spokesperson said on Tuesday.
In late February, a coalition of resistance forces carried out a series of attacks on a supply convoy travelling between Magway Region and Chin State.
The convoy, which consisted of 16 vehicles carrying around 150 troops, was ambushed six times, resulting in the death of more than 30 regime soldiers, the Kanpetlet CDF spokesperson told Myanmar Now last week.
No casualties have been reported among the resistance forces involved in any of the recent clashes.
However, according to Kyaukhtu PDF spokesperson Wai La, a training camp operated by the group was overrun late last month by one of the military columns marching towards Kanpetlet.
No one was injured in that attack, but several motorcycles and other property were destroyed, he said.
The ambush in Kyaukhtu on Tuesday was carried out in retaliation for that attack, he added.
![Resistance fighters holding heavy weapons ammunition in central Myanmar. (Photo: Freedom Revolution Force [FRF])](https://myanmar-now.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/438869056_443267851680128_1706386881626943924_n-390x220.jpeg)
