Yaw Defence Force kills at least 11 junta soldiers with handmade explosives 

Resistance fighters said they attacked a military convoy and a police station in the Yaw area of Magway Region on Sunday, killing at least 11 junta soldiers. 

The Yaw Defence Force (YDF) ambushed a convoy of five vehicles near Khaukku village in the southern part of Gangaw Township using 12 handmade bombs, the group said. Later, at 9pm, it launched an attack 35 miles north on the police station in Kan village.

“There was a small clash after we attacked them with explosives, which have been our weapon of choice for a while now,” said a YDF spokesperson. 

The junta soldiers are expected to march to the town of Kalay but have not yet left Gangaw, he added. “All of the junta soldiers are now in Gangaw Township.”

Two military vehicles were destroyed during the first attack, which killed 11 soldiers including a lieutenant and severely injured 20 others, the YDF said. 

The added that it seized more than 400 bullets, two military uniforms with Light Infantry Division 33 badges, and other supplies after the clash.

The resistance fighters used homemade mortars and traditional muskets during the attack on the police station but were unsure how many casualties they inflicted in that attack. 

The YDF also teamed up with the Kalay People’s Defence Force (PDF) on Sunday morning to attack military units stationed at Kyauk Pyoke village, which sits in Kalay Township at the border with Gangaw.

The YDF said there were some deaths on the military’s side during that clash but that the resistance fighters were forced to retreat when junta soldiers fired artillery shells at them from a nearby village called Hantharwady. Two members of the Kalay PDF died in the clash. 

On November 19 the military sent attack helicopters to Yaw after junta soldiers were surrounded by resistance fighters and suffered heavy losses. 

Three days earlier, in Magway’s Htilin Township, 13 resistance fighters were killed and three were injured during a clash with the military. 

In the past week another 13 members of the YDF, two members of the Kalay PDF and one member of the Chinland Defence Force have been killed in clashes.