Fighters under command of NUG kill 7 soldiers in attack on military vehicle in Yangon Region 

Guerrilla fighters working under the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) attacked a military vehicle in Yangon Region on Friday evening, killing seven junta soldiers and injuring 13, said a spokesperson for the NUG’s armed wing.

Some 25 soldiers were travelling in the army truck at around 10pm in the Kungyangon Township village of Ingalone, about 70km south of the city of Yangon, when resistance forces attacked them with guns and explosives. 

“We couldn’t stop the car but there was a clash,” said the NUG Yangon Regional Command’s Information and Psychological Warfare officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They only managed to shoot back at us two to three times and then drove away.” 

The resistance fighters, a coalition of local guerrillas and the NUG’s own forces, suffered no casualties in the clash, he added. The NUG learned about the military’s casualties via informants, who said that some of the injured soldiers may also die. 

More attacks were being planned in Yangon Region and junta soldiers should defect to the Civil Disobedience Movement as soon as possible, the officer said. The junta has not commented on Friday’s ambush. 

The attack is among the first to go ahead under the direct control of the NUG. So far since the February coup, the vast majority of armed resistance to the junta has come from self organising groups of civilians-turned-fighters, as well as from established ethnic rebel groups.   

Late last month the NUG announced that it had formed a central committee to coordinate military operations across the country. 

Naing Htoo Aung, the NUG’s defence secretary, said the committee would form battalions across the country with a chain of command, and would even send commanders to the front lines. 

Several newly formed armed groups across the country have complained that they have received little or no help from the NUG, which in response has promised to provide weapons and support.