Military units heading from southern Shan State towards Loikaw, Kayah State, were forced to retreat after engaging in three-day battle with Karenni resistance forces.
The troops left from Pekhon on Monday and were initially intercepted by a coalition made up of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and resistance groups based from Pekhon and Moebye—also known as Mong Pai—in Shan State and Loikaw and Demoso in Kayah State.
They were forced to turn back on Thursday before reaching Kayah State, according to a Pekhon People’s Defence Force (PDF) member who took part in the attack.
“They retreated back to Moebye after a fierce battle in Kone Thar village,” he said
The military fired more than 30 artillery shells into the village when they came on Thursday to collect the bodies of soldiers killed in the clash that took place there one day earlier, the PDF member explained, adding that they retreated back to the base of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 422 near Moebye dam after firing the heavy weapons.
At least 30 junta troops reportedly died during the battle near Kone Thar village, along with four members of the Pekhon PDF and two KNDF members.
“There were a lot of casualties on the junta’s side. We could even hear some of them crying,” the Pekhon PDF member said.
As the military column retreated, they also reportedly torched houses in Hsaung Kan village, which they passed on their way back to the base.
On Monday a six-hour battle also took place between the junta’s armed forces and the resistance on the Pinlaung-Pekhon road near the villages of Kone Sone and Kathe, with the military firing artillery, according to a statement by the Pekhon PDF.
Villagers were injured in the shelling, and a 50-year-old man from Kathe was killed by a stray bullet while he was herding cows.
As the troops attempted to advance, they ambushed local PDFs with artillery shell fire as a way to allegedly “clear the area,” according to the Pekhon PDF member.
“We clashed once with the scouting patrols and another time with the actual military column, so it was really intense for us. That’s how they managed to continue marching forward,” he said.
More than 20 military vehicles carrying troops belonging to the column stayed overnight at the No. 7 Military Operations Command (MOC) headquarters in Pekhon on Monday.
Yet another 20 vehicles headed toward Moebye but were intercepted by the Karenni resistance forces near Hkawng Mong village, between Pekhon and Moebye. Despite the attack, they were able to seek refuge in the LIB 422 base in the area.
After spending the night at the MOC headquarters, the troops who had travelled by truck continued on foot on Tuesday morning and again were confronted by the Karenni coalition.
“They were initially travelling in cars but because of our repeated interceptions, they didn’t dare to continue that way and started travelling on foot, because you can’t avoid the landmines when you’re in a vehicle,” the Pekhon PDF member told Myanmar Now.
These were the forces that the resistance ambushed at Kone Thar village on Wednesday.
The Kone Thar clash started at noon and continued until 5pm, prompting the locals from nearby villages to flee.
The Pekhon PDF member added that the military column in question was a reinforcement unit likely headed to support units fighting the resistance in Demoso, just 10 miles past Loikaw.
Battles in Demoso intensified on September 25 and 26, with the junta deploying some 200 troops to the area, killing two civilians and burning down 30 houses.
This week, two more missing civilians were found dead in the township in an area that had been under junta occupation.
