Army retaliates with arson, shelling after deadly resistance ambush of militia members near Sagaing

Junta artillery fire killed a civilian man after anti-junta forces ambushed and fatally shot members of regime-sponsored militias last week in Sagaing Township in the region of the same name, according to local and resistance sources. The shelling, along with arson attacks by junta ground troops, were an apparent retaliation for the surprise attack carried out by resistance fighters on Tuesday evening near Let Pan village on the Sagaing-Min Kun road, located on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River opposite Mandalay. Resistance fighters said they ambushed a four-wheel drive vehicle and a smaller car carrying about 12 people southward from Min Kun, Sagaing Township at around 6pm on Tuesday. Nine people in the vehicles were shot and killed including Shwe Kyar, also known as Kyaw Myo Htun, a locally notorious commander of a junta-organised Pyu Saw Htee militia. Shwe Kyar was accompanied by members of his family, other Pyu Saw Htee militia members, and a junta administrator of Let Pan village, according to the resistance fighters. Junta troops torched houses in Let Pan after the attack, and shelling by junta artillery killed a villager the following day, according to residents of Sagaing Township and members of the resistance group that carried out the ambush. At the time of the ambush, the vehicles had been returning to the town of Sagaing after delivering weapons, ammunition, and supplies to a junta base in Min Kun village, located some 10 miles north of Sagaing. The site of the ambush was around three miles west of Mandalay—located on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady—and five miles northeast of Sagaing. Nine people were killed in the ambush including Shwe Kyar, 33, and his wife, 28, according to the commander of the “Unicorn” urban guerrilla force that led the operation. He also told Myanmar Now that two small children in the party—aged 3 and 5—and one man were briefly held and later released by the resistance forces. The Unicorn guerrilla group later released video footage of the attack via its channel on the Telegram messaging and social media app. A clip lasting three minutes and 50 seconds shows members of the guerrilla force, who are dressed in plainclothes, shooting people in uniforms, dragging them from their vehicles, stepping on their bodies, and taking weapons and ammunition. “One of them shot back. There was no other resistance,” the Unicorn guerrilla force commander said. “We captured one man alive. We felt sorry for the two children, so we released him along with them. This man wasn’t armed,” he added. “We spared him because he was a civilian, and because of the children.” The commander went on to say he received word that the military held and interrogated the man they had released and possibly killed him afterwards. “We heard they arrested him because they were suspicious about why he wasn’t shot and killed like the others,” he explained. “We burned a car,” he continued, adding that the resistance fighters took six firearms and ammunition from inside one of vehicles before leaving it behind. “They came and burned the other car themselves when they collected the bodies that night. They also burned two nearby houses that same night.” The Unicorn urban guerrillas are active within and near Sagaing, coordinating their operations with allied anti-regime forces. Pyu Saw Htee militia members are frequent targets of their attacks, which they carry out as part of the overarching campaign dubbed “Road to Mandalay.” The group carried out another recent attack on another Pyu Saw Htee vehicle travelling the Sagaing-Min Kun road on December 20, killing two militia members. A person lying down after being shot by the guerrilla group Junta troops stationed in Kyauk Tar and Yay Ka villages on the Sagaing-Min Kun road fired artillery into Let Pan and the surrounding area on Wednesday, killing one man. Relevant details about the victim including his name, age, affiliation, and circumstances remain unconfirmed. Locals said ground troops also set fires in Let Pan village again on Thursday, destroying five more houses. Residents have begun to flee their homes in Let Pan, a large village of around 800 households, due to the junta’s artillery and arson attacks. The slain militia leader Shwe Kyar, a former boxer, lived and served as an administrator in Sagaing’s Moe Zar Ward. His administrative job helped him attain a command position in the Pyu Saw Htee militia after the military coup of 2021, a role in which he became notorious for his merciless suppression of dissent against military rule, Sagaing Township residents said. “They arrested those who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement and extorted money from those they accused of supporting the resistance, constantly intimidating and threatening people. Both he and his subordinates did these things,” a Sagaing local in his 30s said. “With weapons and money, both the husband and wife became arrogant. Recently, they've been forcibly recruiting people for military training and service,” he added. In addition to his militia and administrative roles in Sagaing, Shwe Kyar personally oversaw the training of new recruits forcibly pressed into military service at the Light Infantry Division 33 base in the town, according to the local monitoring group Sagaing Scouts. “He was one of the military training instructors. He had a really bad reputation,” the group said. According to the Sagaing Scouts’ information, there were three other Pyu Saw Htee militia members and one member of the fire service among those killed in the resistance attack on Tuesday. Weapons, ammunition, and equipment seized during the resistance fighters’ ambush on the Sagaing-Min Kun road last week

Army retaliates with arson, shelling after deadly resistance ambush of militia members near Sagaing

Anti-junta fighters claimed to have released two small children and an unarmed adult man after a surprise attack on the Sagaing-Min Kun road that killed a notorious pro-junta militia leader, his wife, and seven others in their party

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