Elderly woman among five killed in Myanmar junta raid in Mon State

A shootout in Mon State’s Kyaikhto Township left an elderly woman and four others, including two journalists, dead on Wednesday, according to local sources. The incident took place during an early-morning raid on a house near the Bae Lay Restaurant in Let Pya, a village located about 3.5 miles north of the town of Kyaikhto, the sources said. Regime authorities were reportedly tipped off that members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) were present in the house, whose 90-year-old owner was among the dead. According to Aye Min Tun, an officer of the Thaton District PDF, two of the other casualties were members of the Kyaikhto Revolutionary Force (KRF), a resistance group under the command of Myanmar’s publicly mandated National Unity Government. “Our KRF comrades clashed with junta troops; four regime soldiers were killed and seven injured,” said Aye Min Tun, adding that the incident highlighted the need for resistance forces to maintain high levels of information security at all times. Two of the dead, Htet Myat and Win Htut Oo, were identified as citizen journalists trained by media groups in community-based journalism programs, according to Aye Min Tun. Citizen journalists, or CJs, play a key role in keeping the public informed about developments inside Myanmar, where the military has heightened media repression since seizing power in 2021. Pro-junta Telegram channels reported that the fighting began at around 8:45am on Wednesday, when a large number of junta troops entered the house to “eliminate” the KRF members. One junta soldier was injured in the gunfight, and three pistols and 9mm ammunition were seized, according to the reports. Kyaikhto Township is in Thaton District, which is part of the territory of Brigade 1 of the Karen National Union (KNU). Since the coup, the KNU has supported a number of groups formed in opposition to the regime. The KRF is known for conducting attacks on junta police stations and convoys. In February, the group and its allies conducted three drone attacks on police outposts at the Moke Pa Lin intersection and the new Sittaung Bridge in Kyaikhto Township. Editor’s Note: This article has been corrected to clarify that Htet Myat and Win Htut Oo were citizen journalists and not members of the KRF, as originally reported. The KRF has retracted an earlier statement identifying them as members.

Elderly woman among five killed in Myanmar junta raid in Mon State

The incident reportedly came following a tip-off to regime authorities about the presence of resistance forces at a house in Kyaikhto Township

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