Myanmar Battalion Commanders, Other Officers Killed in Clashes With Resistance Forces

At least 80 Myanmar regime forces including three battalion commanders and some army captains were killed in recent firefights with People’s Defense Force groups and ethnic armed organizations in Chin, Kachin and Karen states and Sagaing and Magwe regions.

At 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a combined force of four ethnic Chin Defense Force groups raided a military camp in Rikhawdar town, Falam District in Chin State, according to the resistance groups.

During five hours of fighting, resistance forces managed to drop more than 25 bombs on the military camp using drones, said the Mountain Eagle Defense Force (MEDF), a resistance group that coordinated the attacks.

A video shows an intense clash on a mountain in the town.

In the raid, eight regime soldiers including Lieutenant Colonel Wai Myo Paing, a battalion commander, were killed and many others injured, according to the resistance groups.

Four resistance fighters also suffered injuries. A civilian was killed in shelling by the regime forces.

“The military’s lieutenant colonel was confirmed killed. We also detained four regime soldiers who fled the firefight. The aim of our attack was to make them feel insecure,” an official of Civic Defense Militia-Siyin, which joined the resistance attack, told The Irrawaddy.

After the clash, two regime jet fighters circled above the area. In the evening, the rest of the regime forces abandoned their camp, the MEDF said.

The Myohla-People’s Defense Force also claimed to have killed 15 military soldiers including an army major during their ambush of a military detachment in Shwgu Township, Kachin State on Wednesday.

At 4:30 a.m. on that morning, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myohla-PDF used mines to attack 75 regime soldiers patrolling along the Irrawaddy River.

After the attack, regime forces cremated the bodies of three army captains while forcing detained villagers to sit near them as human shields, Myohla-PDF said.

Another army major, deputy battalion commander Wai Myo Aung, was reportedly killed along with more than two dozen soldiers after being ambushed by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), in Kyaukgyi Township, Karen State on Sunday.

At 4 p.m. on Sunday, KNLA troops attacked a military detachment between two villages in the township, the KNU said.

On Monday morning, a regime helicopter reportedly retrieved the body of the army major after conducting airstrikes and bombing the area.

A photo showing the obituary notice of the army major printed on a fan went viral on social media.

During the airstrike, one of the military helicopters conducted an emergency landing in a school compound of a nearby village after being attacked by KNLA troops, said the KNU.

Due to the conflict, residents from six nearby villages have fled their homes.

Central Region Special Operations Group, a PDF group, claimed that their snipers managed to kill 11 regime troops during a firefight with a military detachment near Solarlu Village in Hpruso Township, Kayah State on Tuesday.

Early on Wednesday, Chaung-U PDF ambushed 45 regime forces who were operating a vehicle-loaded jammer in an effort to prevent PDF mine attacks. The resistance forces used landmines at two locations while the troops were searching for mines along the Chaung-U-Monywa highway in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region.

After being attacked by the mines, a group of bloodstained soldiers were seen on the highway between the two villages, but military casualties were unknown, the PDF group said.

However, 14 regime forces were killed during a second mine attack on the same highway.

An aerial video shot by the PDF shows the motionless bodies of several soldiers lying on the highway.

Also, around 20 regime soldiers were reportedly killed after being ambushed with mines by joint resistance forces in Sagaing Region while they were raiding villages in Ye-U Township.

After the PDF’s ambush, military regime forces used helicopter gunships to attack the resistance forces, a resident told The Irrawaddy.

“We have learned many soldiers died in the resistance ambush. That is why the regime conducted airstrikes,” the resident said.

During the PDFs’ attack, 25 military weapons were reportedly seized by the PDF groups, according to residents and media reports.

Six resistance fighters of the Beikthano People’s Defense Army (BPDA) and three regime forces including an army captain were killed during a regime raid on PDF members in Kani Village, Myothit Town, Magwe Region on Tuesday, said the resistance group.

A shootout between 30 regime troops and the resistance forces broke out while the soldiers raided a house in Kani Village where six PDF members had been staying.

After the raid, regime forces also killed a villager, said the BPDF.

The Myanmar junta is facing intense attacks from PDFs and ethnic armed organizations across the country nearly every day.