A guerrilla leader was killed and a junta soldier was seriously injured in a shootout in downtown Mandalay on the afternoon of June 25, according to
Yadanarbon Revolutionary Force (YRF) released a statement that day confirming that the deceased was Swan Htet Aung, also known as Htet Shine Zaw, a commander and member of the organisation’s central committee.
Plainclothes troops on three motorbikes chased Swan Htet Aung, who was also on a motorbike, near the intersection of 84th and 35th St in Maha Aungmyay Township at around 2pm last Saturday, an eyewitness said. A fistfight ensued once they disembarked from the bikes, and he reportedly shot at the soldiers to evade capture, who returned fire.
“[Swan Htet Aung] was shot dead but a junta soldier was also severely injured. The soldier was still alive when I saw him last when he was being loaded into an ambulance,” the witness told Myanmar Now.
He added that the troops at the scene confiscated the deceased guerrilla leader’s phone and cash, and that they left his body on the road. A vehicle from a local social welfare group came to retrieve the body later that day.
According to the YRF’s statement, the body was not returned, and they held a funeral ceremony for Swan Htet Aung on Sunday without his remains.
Myanmar Now was unable to obtain comment from the YRF or the military council on the shooting.
Another guerrilla group, the King Cobra Guerrilla Force-Mandalay, also carried out shoot-and-run attacks on a local junta administrative office in Maha Aungmyay Township near 42nd and 65th St on the evenings of June 23 and 24, joined by two other anti-coup defence forces.
“The members of our groups have gone through special training, so there were no casualties on our side. However, we still don’t know the exact number of casualties on their side,” a member of the group said in a June 24 statement.
Guerrilla forces have carried out multiple assaults on junta targets in Mandalay throughout June, with the military increasing roadblocks and security checkpoints in an attempt to locate them.
Armed resistance groups in the region have released statements declaring that they would be accelerating attacks in urban areas and warned the public to stay away from areas occupied by junta forces and to provide assistance to retreating guerrilla fighters.
