The Myanmar military responded to a resistance attack on a police station in Myaing Township in Magway Region with airstrikes last week.
An alliance of local anti-junta defence forces from the surrounding townships launched an hours-long ambush on the compound on October 21. The site is strategically located 16 miles outside of Myaing town in Linkataw village, near where Magway’s Myaing and Yesagyo townships meet Salingyi and Pale in Sagaing.
The clash started at around noon and lasted until 6:30pm, according to groups who took part in the battle. Some 50 police personnel were in the compound at the time, and while the resistance coalition was able to breach the station’s perimeters, a MI-35 fighter jet bombed the surrounding area and fired machine guns at close range to repel their advances.
Cross, an officer from the second battalion of the Myaing People’s Defence Force (PDF), said that “this was the first ever clash in which we were made to face airstrikes.”
A leader of the Yesagyo PDF, Wai Gyi, confirmed that the resistance coalition fought to maintain their positions during the 40-minute assault from above.
“Two hours into the battle, we already had the upper hand and some of us had already gone inside the police station. However, we were forced to take cover and fire back when the junta aircraft came,” Wai Gyi told Myanmar Now.
He explained that while the allied forces attempted to resume the attack after the first jet had left, they were forced to withdraw after receiving intel that five more junta aircraft were headed to the area from neighbouring Sagaing Region.
“We had already overrun three out of the four total bunkers at the station. We were breaking down the fences and setting fire to the fourth bunker when another MI-35 aircraft arrived and started firing machine guns,” Cross said. “Most of the airstrikes were aimed at the edges of the woods near the village as they thought we were withdrawing.”
The resistance forces did in fact withdraw that evening, he added, fearing that in the dark, they could “risk mistaking our own troops for [the junta’s].”
He claimed that the defence forces suffered no casualties, but estimated that around seven junta personnel were killed, and dozens more wounded by explosive devices set by the resistance before the retreat. He also said that he heard police officers yelling to one another that the station head, who phoned in support from the military, had been shot.
“His voice was shaking as he was calling them to send air force reinforcements for the second time,” he said.
Allied resistance forces first attacked the Linkataw police station in late January. At that time, 11 buildings were torched and at least nine weapons seized. Some 13 family members of police personnel who were initially captured were later released.
The defence teams who led the October 21 attack also jointly ambushed another police station in Kyar Tat village, Pale Township, earlier this month.
