The Karenni Army (KA) and other local resistance forces jointly attacked a police station in Demoso Township, Karenni (Kayah) State on Tuesday evening, but were forced to withdraw when the military responded by firing heavy weaponry.
The KA is the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party; the party’s information department said that an alliance involving the KA, the Karenni Generation Z Army (KGZA), the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) had launched the assault on the police target together.
A member of the KGZA told Myanmar Now that they attacked the police station at 7pm but had to leave the area by 9pm when the military’s Artillery Battalion 120 began firing shells in their direction.
Members of PDF chapters participating in the battle continued fighting until around midnight, he said, but were unable to seize the police station, where many junta officers and soldiers had reportedly been deployed.
“Everything has calmed down now. We didn’t lose anyone but we still have not heard any news of casualties on the military’s side,” the KGZA member explained, adding that it was dark at the time of the attack, making it difficult to gather information about injuries or deaths.
“D-Day has arrived,” he added, referring to the Tuesday declaration by the anti-coup shadow administration, the National Unity Government (NUG), of a nationwide revolt against the coup regime.
“We gave them time to take part in the Civil Disobedience Movement, but they didn’t join, leaving us no choice but to kill them all in our battle against the dictatorship,” the KGZA fighter said of the junta troops and the movement aimed at toppling the military council.
Myanmar Now tried to contact the KNDF spokesperson for further information regarding the clash, but the calls went unanswered.
The KNDF, founded on May 31, is officially made up of three PDF chapters based in Loikaw, Demoso and Nan Mei Khon in Karenni State and two PDF groups from Moebye and Pekhon in southern Shan State, as well as local ethnic armed forces. Several more PDFs based in Karenni State are believed to have recently joined the force.
The KNDF announced that clashes had broken out on Tuesday between the military and a joint KNDF-KA force in the village of Daw Poe Si at around 3pm and near San Pya village at 5pm, allegedly killing a total of four junta soldiers.
The Karenni State-based Kantarawaddy Times reported that four houses in San Pya had been destroyed by military artillery fire on Tuesday.
