Junta forces killed, injured in PDF attacks in Bago and Magway regions

Several junta forces were killed or injured in Bago and Magway regions over the weekend, as armed resistance groups around Myanmar kept up their pressure on the country’s coup regime. 

An officer of the Bago People’s Defence Force (PDF) said that the group mounted an assault on a military outpost in Pyay Township on Friday that left at least three soldiers dead. 

The attack, which targeted soldiers stationed at a local administrative office in the village of Hmawzar, also resulted in the death of one PDF member, the officer added.

“Both sides exchanged fire and he died during that battle,” he said, adding that the body of the fallen resistance fighter was taken away in an ambulance along with three other bodies.

Last Tuesday, the Bago PDF carried out a similar attack on a police outpost near Milestone 110 on the Yangon-Mandalay highway, killing five officers.

Meanwhile, a police outpost in Pakan Nge, some 20km south of Yesagyo in Magway region, came under attack from a coalition of local defence forces on Saturday, according to the leader of one of the groups involved. 

Around 15 officers were forced to flee after the outpost came under siege for about 30 minutes early Saturday afternoon, Lin Yone, the leader of the Phoenix Special Guerrilla Force, told Myanmar Now.

“We gave them a chance to surrender their weapons, but the officer in charge would not talk with us. I think they thought we were kidding. We gave them a minute and started shooting,” he said, adding that several of the fleeing officers were injured in the attack.

“Our doors remain open if they want to join us. We could even arrange for the safety of their families. And if they were to surrender their weapons to us, we have arranged rewards for them,” he added.

The groups said that they seized two motorcycles and two rifles from the outpost before setting it on fire.