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At least 30 junta soldiers reportedly killed in landmine attack on military convoy in Magwe

At least 30 troops from the junta’s armed forces were killed and 15 wounded when a military convoy leaving Gangaw in Magwe Region was hit by landmines set up by the Yaw Defence Force (YDF) on Monday evening, according to an official from the local resistance group. 

“The first of the eight cars was overturned. Everything was destroyed. The second car was unharmed. The third and fourth cars were also hit by the landmines,” the YDF official told Myanmar Now.  

He added that a group of 16 YDF members fired homemade rocket launchers at the convoy—which was headed toward Kalay in Sagaing Region—after the mines exploded, intensifying the attack. 

“One of the unharmed military cars fired about 15 shots with an RPG, then we exchanged fire. Once we succeeded, we withdrew from the location. The fighting lasted for only 10 minutes. Then the junta’s army fired gunshots indiscriminately,” the YDF official said. “The army gathered the injured soldiers and bodies and left.”

Though the junta’s army fired back on the local resistance fighters, the YDF reportedly suffered no casualties, but there was minor damage to nearby sesame fields. 

Monday’s attack marks the third time this month that a military convoy on the Kalay-Gangaw road has been ambushed by the YDF. 

On August 18, a convoy of more than 40 military vehicles leaving Gangaw for Kalay was hit by a landmine explosion on the same highway in Gangaw Township. At least 20 soldiers were killed and 10 were injured in the blast, according to the YDF.

Two junta soldiers were reportedly killed and at least three injured when three military cars were hit by landmines on the route on August 10. 

At the time of reporting, the military council had not released any information about the landmine attacks. 

The YDF issued an August 13 letter forbidding civilian vehicles from travelling between 8pm and 4:30am in the Yaw area because of potential clashes with the junta’s army. 

Residents from towns and villages in an area covering Gangaw, Htilin and Saw townships formed the YDF in May to mount an armed resistance campaign against the junta. 

The YDF has also formed alliances with local guerrilla groups in Mindat and Kanpetlet in Chin State and Tamu, Kalay, Yinmarbin, Kani, Mingin, Pale and Depayin in Sagaing Region and Pauk and Myaing in Magwe Region. 

They also recently formed the Yaw Area Revolutionary Committee in collaboration with other area groups to coordinate the anti-dictatorship resistance.

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