Nine People’s Defence Force (PDF) medics and two others were captured on Tuesday morning by junta forces who overran their base camp in a southwestern district of the Sagaing Region town of Kalay.
Those captured–nine women and two men–were from the Kalay PDF’s Battalion 3 and were among some 20 PDF members stationed at the camp when the raid began at around 8:30am, with junta soldiers firing light and heavy artillery shells, the group said in a statement.
Later in the afternoon, fighting broke out between the junta’s forces and a coalition of local resistance groups, with the clash ending at around 6:30pm, the statement said.
The coalition included members of the Kalay PDF, the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF), and a Chinland Defence Force (CDF) chapter covering Kalay Township, Kabaw Valley and Gangaw Township. A community defence group was also involved, according to the statement.
Kalay PDF members used handmade mines against a military column arriving as reinforcements for the junta troops fighting in southwest Kalay.
Resistance forces also fired light and heavy weapons at a police station in Kalay’s Tarhan ward, the statement added.
Fighting continued on Wednesday just outside of Kalay, said a spokesperson of the CNDF.
“The two sides have been firing at each other since dawn today. We don’t know about casualties yet. The military has also been sending reinforcement troops there,” he told Myanmar Now on Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of residents living in villages near Kalay were displaced due to the clashes, according to locals.
Photos of the nine women captured during Tuesday’s raid, published on Facebook by members of the junta’s forces, were widely shared on social media on Wednesday afternoon.
In the photos, a young woman in a blue sweatshirt is seen sitting with her hands bound in front of her, while the other women appear to have their hands tied behind their backs. One of the women has what appears to be a blood stain on her t-shirt.
There were no photos of the two men who were captured.
The Kalay PDF confirmed that the women were members of its medical team. Myanmar Now was unable to gather further information about them.
The junta has been attempting to crush armed resistance by local defence forces across towns and villages in Sagaing Region, including Kalay, and shootouts have erupted on a daily basis recently.
Kalay was one of the first places in Myanmar where local people took up arms to resist military rule after police and soldiers killed hundreds during crackdowns on peaceful anti-coup demonstrations earlier this year.
Despite the brutal crackdowns and the ensuing fighting, residents of Kalay have continued to hold daily street protests against the coup regime.
