Myanmar army soldiers in Mandalay’s Singu Township shot and killed two resistance fighters in a battle over the weekend and four who they took prisoner, the leader of a local defence force said.
The leader of the Oo Daung Min (Peacock King) guerrilla group told Myanmar Now that they and another allied anti-junta force had sent six members to carry out a targeted assassination of an alleged military informant near Pyinpin village on June 18.
The men reportedly encountered Myanmar Army troops at a checkpoint along the Mogok-Mandalay highway, leading to a fatal shootout.
“They ran straight into the junta force near the toll gate and they tried to fight back, but our men only had two pistols, so all of them were killed,” the leader said, citing accounts provided by villagers who live near the scene of the clash.
They said that two of the men died in the short battle: Wah Gyi and Ko Tae, who belonged to Oo Daung Min.
The surviving four—members of the allied guerrilla group—were reportedly captured and forced to run ahead of the soldiers with their hands behind their backs, at which time they were shot in the back and killed.
Unable to retrieve their bodies due to the continued military presence at the site, the resistance forces held a symbolic funeral on Sunday in which they burned clothing previously worn by the victims.
Oo Daung Min has been collaborating with other local defence forces in launching ambushes against the military in Shwebo District in neighbouring Sagaing Region, as well as in Mandalay’s Singu and Thabeikkyin townships.
One such alliance attacked the Shwe Pyi village police outpost and the military checkpoint in Ngwe Taung on the Mogok-Mandalay highway on May 20. Three junta personnel, including the police chief of the village outpost, were reportedly killed.
Guerrilla forces in Mandalay have been repeatedly striking junta reinforcement columns and convoys transporting weapons and supplies between central and upper Myanmar.
The military has responded by launching so-called “clearance” operations in the townships of Singu, Thabeikkyin and Madaya in an attempt to crush the armed resistance movement in the region.
