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Members of Myanmar army-backed militia shot dead at Mon State checkpoint

A local anti-junta defence force in Ye Township, Mon State, claimed to have shot and killed five members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia in an attack on a roadside checkpoint on Monday. 

Kyat Mel, or “Black Chicken,” the leader of the Ye Balu guerrilla group—Burmese for “ogre”—told Myanmar Now that he and other resistance fighters ambushed the post at a bridge two miles outside the town of Ye at around 1pm. 

All five guards present at the checkpoint, located near Ah Sin village, were reportedly killed in the assault, and the Ye Balu members seized three guns from the site. 

“We essentially raided the security checkpoint after gathering intel on their activities and we launched the attack when they weren’t expecting it,” Kyat Mel said. 

He stated that his group suffered no casualties, and that the military retrieved the bodies of the slain guards two hours later.

The bodies of the slain guards at the junta checkpoint outside Ah Sin village (Supplied)

Kyat Mel explained that his resistance force had made the decision to attack the checkpoint after receiving reports that the guards, members of a militia armed and trained by the junta, had been forcing locals to pay bribes at gunpoint. 

“They also threatened the locals, telling them to report it back to them if they had any information on our group. There were cases where the military attacked us based on those reports,” he told Myanmar Now. 

The men killed in the ambush were identified as Than Htay, the alleged leader of a Pyu Saw Htee chapter, and four reported members—Tin Oo, Ko Ko Lay, Min Min and Myint Soe—according to the local online news platform C8, citing a source close to the military. 

Members of Ye Balu claim that the military had armed more than 10 men in Ah Sin in order to serve in the Pyu Saw Htee. 

Other checkpoints have been set up at the entrances and exits to Ye Township, and elsewhere along the road leading to Ah Sin, they said. 

Multiple resistance forces are active in Ye Township, which also is the territory of Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army.

 

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