Four anti-junta fighters and one local woman were killed after the military used heavy artillery and airpower to fend off a resistance attack on a regime-controlled village in southern Sagaing Region’s Pale Township on Tuesday.
The coordinated attack, by the Myanmar Royal Dragon Army (MRDA) and other defence forces active in the area, targeted Zee Phyu Kone, a known stronghold of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia. The village, located nine miles west of the town of Pale, has been under the control of the military for more than a year and is currently being used to train Pyu Saw Htee recruits.
The alliance of MRDA and other defence forces began their assault around 5am that day. Junta and Pyu Saw Htee forces responded with heavy artillery shelling two hours later.
Soon after the clash, as residents of Zee Phyu Kone and nearby villages began to flee, a 60-year-old woman was killed by the militia and junta forces’ shelling. She was identified as Khin Win, a resident of the village of Thayet, located one mile southeast of Zee Phyu Kone.
“She was inside her house. She was hit in the sternum and died 15 minutes later. The Pyu Saw Htee in the village were firing back at the resistance forces,” said a local man who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
He added that a military jet arrived at around 8am and shot at the ground, targeting the defence teams attacking the village.
The MRDA later released a statement confirming that the anti-junta groups were forced to retreat after four resistance fighters were killed and five were injured by the aerial attack.
According to the statement, resistance forces fired some 200 artillery rounds at the occupying forces in Zee Phyu Kone, managing to destroy most of the buildings used for storage and causing several casualties on the military side.
Myanmar Now has yet to confirm the MRDA’s claims about casualties among the junta soldiers or their allies.
The MRDA is one of many anti-junta forces that have formed in and near Pale Township since the military seized power more than two years ago. The township shares borders with Chin State and Magway Region, where resistance forces also regularly conduct raids and other operations.
Locals claim that junta forces have been stationed at several strategically important sites in Pale Township. Around 40 soldiers and policemen are stationed at the Kan Daunt Regional Police Station, located on the Pale-Gangaw road, and around 80 military and Pyu Saw Htee personnel are stationed in Inmahti, a village located 2 miles from the police station.
Resistance forces have carried out repeated attacks on Zee Phyu Kone, including another raid in May of last year that forced the military to call in air support.
Zaw Htet, chair of the Pale Township people’s administration team, also commented that the military has been using the air force to protect junta and Pyu Saw Htee bases in Inmahti and Zee Phyu Kone because they provide security for the strategically important Kan Daunt police station.
“If these two Pyu Saw Htee villages fall, there will be nothing to protect the regional police station on the Pale-Gangaw road. That’s why they’re doing as much as possible to protect those villages,” Zaw Htet said.
A resident of Thayet said local people were facing financial hardship because the threat from the military and Pyu Saw Htee forces prevented them from working their farms.
“The farms are located between Zee Phyu Kone and Thayet, so no one is able to run their businesses and everyone is forced to take odd jobs, like running makeshift shops. Our village is targeted often, but each time they’ve come, everyone living there has managed to flee,” the villager said.
In February of this year, the military council declared martial law in townships where they had not been able to maintain control, including a total of 14 townships in Sagaing Region.
Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing visited Monywa, the capital of Sagaing Region, on Sunday for the first time since martial law went into effect, and gave remarks urging the military to focus on unity among the troops.
