Five soldiers, including three female officers, killed in Pekhon

An ambush on a military outpost in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township left five soldiers, including three female officers, dead last Friday, according to a spokesperson for the Pekhon People’s Defence Force (PDF).

The attack was carried out at the western gate of the base of the 336th Light Infantry Battalion in Pekhon at around 9:30pm, and resulted in the confiscation of three MA-3 rifles, one MA-1 rifle, and one MA-2 rifle, the spokesperson said.

Seven PDF members were involved in the ambush, he added, noting that they didn’t realize that the outpost was manned by female officers until after they went to collect the weapons.

“It was dark at the time, so we couldn’t tell who they were. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation. It’s our duty to shoot anyone who is armed and uniformed. The weapons we are using right now are the ones we confiscated from them,” he said.

Local residents said that after the attack, the military shelled the area around Pekhon, destroying several civilian houses and local monasteries.

Pekhon is home to the junta’s No. 7 Military Operation Command, as well as Light Infantry Battalions 336, 421 and 422. Fighting in the area, which borders Kayah (Karenni) State, has escalated in recent weeks, according to local PDF groups.

Resistance forces say that the junta has been increasingly deploying female military personnel to serve as guards at outposts vulnerable to attack. There have also been reports that the wives of soldiers have been given military training for this purpose, although this could not be confirmed.

In March 2018, the Myanmar military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, met with female army and police officers in Kachin State’s Tanai Township following clashes with the Kachin Independence Army.

At the time, the future coup leader told the female officers that they were engaged in “a fair and just war” and said that women in the military had the right to engage in battle, as long as they they were given proper training.