Firearms and ammunition seized by regime forces during a raid near Kin Taw Village, Sagaing Region on June 25.
Myanmar junta forces raided many People’s Defense Force (PDF) camps in Sagaing Region in June, resulting in heavy losses of fighters and ammunition, according to the resistance groups.
Regime forces raided at least six PDF camps during the month, killing at least 21 resistance fighters and seven civilians.
Five of the raided camps are in the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region and the other is in Myanaung Township, Ayeyarwady Region.
A camp near Yay Kan Su Village in Sagaing’s Monywa Township was raided by around 80 regime troops on June 7. They killed four local resistance fighters, including two female combatants, as well as two civilians, before burning their bodies.
In raids on three camps of the Nganzun People’s Defense Force on the bank of the Irrawaddy River near Kin Taw Village, Sagaing Township on June 25, junta forces killed 17 resistance fighters, including two female combatants, as well as three civilians. Eighteen bodies, including the civilians, were found on June 26 and the remains of the other two resistance fighters were found the next day.
All of the resistance members were shot or stabbed to death after being detained, according to resistance groups involved in retrieving the bodies. One of the females is believed to have been raped by junta soldiers before being killed, they said.
Four days later, regime troops raided Sagaing’s Samon Village and seized US$230,000 worth of arms and ammunition from the PDFs. Two women in the village were shot dead during the raid, according to residents.
The military is targeting PDF camps in Sagaing for destruction because the region is a hotbed of armed resistance against the regime.
A spokesman for Sagaing District Battalion 4 under the National Unity Government (NUG)’s Defense Ministry said two weaknesses made the PDF camps vulnerable to being raided by junta forces: leaks of security information and a lack of weapons and ammunition.
“Sometimes we told the public about [planned] combat missions that they shouldn’t have been told about. We did it in order to get support. That is a weakness in our security,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Ye Baw Pay, the leader of the Black Peacock Guerrilla Force in Sagaing’s Pale Township, said the regime has been using special police units to raid the PDF camps in Sagaing Region. The police were trained at the Mandalay Palace military base, said Ye Baw Pay, citing testimony from police officers arrested by the PDFs.
Furthermore, some soldiers and police had pretended to defect and were living in PDF camps while still working for the junta, he added.
“Therefore, security in the camps [has become] particularly tight. Moreover, [resistance] members in the camp have been told not to contact their families,” Ye Baw Pay told The Irrawaddy.
A Monywa resident commented that some PDF camps had been destroyed due to a lack of discipline, which led to security leaks.
“Even in a village very close to Monywa town, some PDF fighters sit in tea shops with guns. They really shouldn’t,” he told The Irrawaddy.
The attacks haven’t been confined to June. Regime forces raided at least two PDF camps in Sagaing Region in the last week of May, killing a female resistance member and seizing weapons and ammunition. On Sunday, regime troops raided Ta Laing Village in Sagaing Township, killing five local resistance fighters and torching more than 100 houses.
A captain who defected to the revolution in July 2022 warned that regime troops had changed their tactics in order to crush the PDFs.
Regime troops no longer enter areas they cannot fully control. They first scout from the air and then only attack when they are sure of success, the captain added.
“PDFs should stay in places with natural barriers, because Sagaing Region is not like the ethnic states. As the land is flat, trenches should be dug around the camps,” the captain told The Irrawaddy.
Obeying orders is also important and special attention should be paid to it, he added.