Five members of a local People’s Defense Force (PDF) group were killed in Mandalay on Tuesday afternoon after exchanging gunfire with regime troops, according to a resistance force member.
The resistance fighters from Myitnge PDF were at the Green House Inn in Chanmyathazi Township when a large number of junta troops surrounded the guesthouse and fired shots at it, said a member of Myitnge PDF.
“A wounded member was taken to a clinic and he felt faint on the way back, so they took a rest at that inn. A military informant tipped the regime off. They fought back, but they were outnumbered and all were killed,” he said.
Among the resistance fighters killed were a co-leader and four members of the Myitnge PDF. Resistance group Rangers of Mandalay (ROM) expressed its condolences over the deaths of the slain PDF fighters.
Bo Phoenix from ROM said: “We are upset that we could do nothing to help them. We urge people to help each other, and be aware of the revolution. Don’t forget that underground resistance forces are making sacrifices that no one knows about.”
The military regime said security forces went to conduct a check after receiving a tip-off that injured people were at the Green House Inn, and an exchange of fire took place after those inside refused to open the door and started firing. As they jumped down onto the house next door, security forces fired shots as they attempted to arrest them, the regime said. Four men and a woman were killed and a pistol, nine bullets and a grenade seized from them, it said in a report.
Buddhist monk U Aggawunsa, the organizer of a Pyigyitagun Township anti-coup protest column, said: “The regime is brutally oppressing overt and underground revolutionaries. Lately, it has started to kill revolutionaries on the spot without detaining them legally. I urge all to take greater caution as it is committing extrajudicial acts.”
Junta troops raided a Myitnge PDF base near Myotha town in Nganzun Township on March 30. In the raid, two resistance fighters were killed and 29 detained, and food supplies, some weapons and motorbikes were seized.
Myitnge PDF has been engaged in mine attacks against junta troops and urban junta outposts.
On April 18, five men and a woman from the urban guerilla resistance group Truth Keeping Force based in Mandalay’s Amarapura Township were arrested and a vehicle, two motorbikes and weapons and ammunition were seized from them as they were returning from an operation. Their whereabouts are still unknown, and the regime has not yet reported their arrest.
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