Four members of a village defence team were shot dead on Wednesday following a junta raid on their base in Sagaing Region’s Ayadaw Township, according to resistance sources.
A column of around 50 regime troops stationed in the town of Ayadaw carried out the attack on the base in Ye Chin, a village some 5km to the north, a spokesperson for the Ayadaw Township Defence Group told Myanmar Now.
The incident occurred despite the group receiving information about the planned raid, he added.
“We had already left the base the night before, but some of our members returned the next morning and were shot by the military,” said the spokesperson.
The four victims, who were all in their 20s, were among five people riding in a vehicle that came under fire when they encountered junta soldiers near the camp.
The vehicle was later torched with the bodies of two of the resistance fighters inside, said the defence group spokesperson.
Residents of Ye Chin, a village of around 200 households, have fled since the raid, he added.
He also noted that the two sides exchanged fire as the junta column left for Naung Gyi Ai, a village in the northwestern part of Ayadaw Township, after the attack.
“They left for Naung Gyi Ai right after the raid on the defence team base. We pursued them and they fired back,” he said.
Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar’s coup regime, has recently ordered an escalation of military operations in Sagaing Region and Chin and Karenni (Kayah) states, where the junta has faced fierce resistance to its rule.
In Sagaing, attacks are currently being carried out in Khin-U, Wetlet and Shwebo townships, according to reports.
Last Friday, junta troops killed 14 people, including three teenaged boys, captured during a surprise raid on Sone Chaung, a village in Yinmabin Township. Many of the victims were tortured before being summarily executed, according to locals.
