People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters in Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township have said they killed around 20 members of the junta’s forces on Friday, including soldiers, officers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen.
The Kalay PDF fought three junta columns containing around 280 people near the village of Yae Shin in the south of the township, with the battle raging from around 7am in the morning until the evening.
A Kalay PDF fighter was killed and two others injured in the clash.
Three military officers were among those killed on the junta’s side, said an officer from the Kalay PDF. “One of them was a captain. He was killed by an explosive device. The military suffered a lot this time,” he told Myanmar Now.
Soldiers stationed inside the nearby village of Hanthawaddy fired artillery shells at the site of Friday’s clash, destroying nine houses in Yae Shin, the Kalay PDF said in a statement.
Hanthawaddy is three miles from Yae Shin and sits beside the road linking Kalay to the town of Gangaw in Magway Region.
After the clash, Kalay PDF fighters seized weapons and ammunition from the junta’s forces, while a military fighter jet was seen flying above the village. The military has since sent reinforcements to the area.
On Saturday, another clash broke out near Inn Kyun village, which is close to Yae Shin. The next day the military sent more reinforcements, who travelled via the villages of Nat Chaung and Nat Myaung.
“We told the residents of the four villages near Nat Chaung and Nat Myuang to flee,” said the Kalay PDF officer. “We’re still not sure if the reinforcements are for Yae Shin.”
Thousands have fled from the villages of Yae Shin, Inn Kyun, Nat Chaung, Nat Myaung, Sitha and Hakhalay in the wake of recent fighting.
Resistance fighters in Kalay said in February that they were in control of 70% of the township’s roughly 100 villages.
