Resistance fighters and junta troops both suffered casualties last week in a day-long battle near a segment of road in Shan State connecting the Mandalay Region towns of Mogok and Pyin Oo Lwin.
Clashes broke out in Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan State, on October 9 when an army column of around 60 soldiers from Infantry Battalion 252—part of Light Infantry Division 101—entered an area with a heavy presence of Mandalay Region People’s Defence Force (MDY-PDF) fighters.
The battle, near Nawnghkio Township’s Doe Pin village, lasted from 9:30am to 8pm. The MDY-PDF reported that three of its fighters were killed, and that six had been killed on the junta side.
“We found six enemy bodies at the site of battle. We seized a large amount of ammunition,” said Osmond, a spokesperson for the MDY-PDF, on Monday.
The MDY-PDF released a video recording on October 15 that showed an exchange of fire with junta forces, the soldiers’ bodies discovered after the fighting, and confiscated items including uniforms and insignia, military equipment, ammunition and heavy weapons.
According to the resistance forces, the six dead soldiers found and buried by the PDF were among a total of at least 20 junta soldiers who had been killed. They also estimated that 30 junta soldiers had been injured, but Myanmar Now has not been able to verify the casualty figures independently.
The MDY-PDF did not disclose the names of the three resistance members who died in battle.
In addition to the junta and MDY-PDF forces, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—an ethnic armed organisation—is active in the area near the segment of the Pyin Oo Lwin-Mogok road where the fighting occurred, and has been supporting the MDY-PDF’s operations, resistance sources said.
Junta soldiers based in in Ho Hko village, some eight miles south of Doe Pin on the Pyin Oo Lwin-Mogok road, also carried out assaults in the surrounding area, according to a local man in Nawnghkio Township who is in contact with residents of Hokho.
“The villages of Ho Hko and Doe Pin are close to each other. There is a junta base in Ho Hko and there are security checkpoints run by the MDY-PDF near Doe Pin and along the road. We heard that the military forces in the area are on high alert these days,” he said.
Fighting between the resistance forces and the junta army has been nearly continuous in the vicinity of Nawnghkio Township since the beginning of this year.
The MDY-PDF has carried out joint operations with the TNLA since July on the border between Shan State and Mandalay Region, part of a long-term strategic campaign dubbed “Operation Kanaung.”
The National Unity Government (NUG)—the publicly mandated shadow government formed and endorsed by ousted pro-democracy leaders in response to the 2021 coup—claimed in April that fighting in Nawnghkio Township, which lasted for nearly a month, had resulted in the deaths of high-ranking junta army officers.
The People’s Defence Forces, which operate as the NUG’s armed wing, reported that two army captains, a platoon commander, and a deputy platoon commander had been killed during the series of seventeen battles that took place in the area between July and September.
The TNLA and PDF have also conducted joint operations in Mogok Township, Mandalay Region, which shares a border with Nawnghkio Township. One resistance member was killed and two were wounded when the army carried out assaults between October 12 and 15 to recapture bases previously lost to anti-junta forces in Mogok Township.
