A coalition of three People’s Defence Force (PDF) groups on Wednesday attacked a police station in Magway Region where junta forces have reportedly been training members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia, killing five.
The coalition said the head of the Yae Pyar police station was among those killed during the raid at the village of the same name, which is in Pauk Township. Two PDF fighters were severely wounded in the 45 minute-long firefight, the groups said.
The PDF groups behind the attack were from Pauk, Myaing and Yesagyo townships. The station is located 12 miles east of Pauk’s urban centre.
Wai Gyi, the leader of the Yesagyo PDF, said there were over 20 police officers at the station during the attack. Some fled without fighting back while others returned fire, he said.
“Some of them started running the moment we started shooting,” he told Myanmar Now. “We didn’t go after the ones trying to flee. Some others started fleeing after the station chief got shot though.”
“The station chief was outside when we started shooting. We shot him dead when his car entered the gate,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Pauk PDF said the fighters refrained from burning down the police station to avoid collateral damage.
“The station is surrounded by civilian houses. The house next door and the station are only divided by a single fence. We didn’t want the civilian houses to be affected, so we decided not to torch the station,” he said.
Yae Pyar village is located along the Pakokku-Mindat road and has around 300 houses.
A video published on social media by the PDF groups showed the resistance fighters opening fire at the station chief’s car as it entered the station compound. The chief’s driver was also killed in the attack, the PDF groups said.
The injured resistance fighters were from the Yesagyo PDF, they said.
The resistance fighters retreated when junta soldiers arrived at the scene, according to Wai Gyi. “We have enough skills to handle the battles,” he said. “We just need more weapons and ammunition.”
Junta forces have been using the police station to give military training to people from the nearby village of Kokkosu who signed up to join Pyu Saw Htee, a guerrilla group called the Anonymous Special Task Force said earlier this month.
Since late January, Pyu Saw Htee members in Pauk have terrorised and torched more than 20 villages. They also reportedly shot a man dead after he tried to get them to stop their rampage.
Also late last month, a coalition of PDF groups attacked the Lin Ka Daw Police Station in Magway’s Myaing Township before burning it down and seizing weapons and ammunition. The groups briefly detained 13 family members of the police officers who fled.
