Three members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF) captured by junta forces on Wednesday in Magway Region’s Pwintbyu Township have since died, an officer within the resistance said.
More than 20 PDF members from the Thayet and Kamma township chapters were transporting weapons when a military unit of some 50 soldiers intercepted their truck on a bridge between Maezali and Sedaw villages in the early morning, around 20km southwest of Pwintbyu town.
Nine of the men were killed in the attack, Pwintbyu PDF officer Kyar Gyi told Myanmar Now, although eight bodies were initially seen in video footage taken by junta forces following the incident and released by pro-military media.
Kyar Gyi said that the truck’s driver, as well as two wounded PDF members, were also arrested and later killed, according to information they received on Wednesday evening. In the video clip, the guerrilla fighters were seen lying on the ground near the bodies, and the driver standing, shirtless, his hands tied behind his back.
The PDF members succumbed to injuries sustained in the attack when they were denied medical treatment by their captors, the officer explained. The driver was allegedly beaten before being shot, the officer explained.
“I heard that he tried to run when the military untied him and was ultimately shot dead,” Kyar Gyi said.
He added that the Myanmar army troops had cremated the bodies of the resistance force members at the cemetery in Sedaw village, located less than one kilometer from the clash site at the bridge.
Citing an undisclosed number of guerrilla fighters who had escaped the ambush and returned to a nearby PDF camp, Kyar Gyi said that the junta forces who stopped the vehicle initially asked the three people in the front seats to exit. The exchange of gunfire began after two of the troops attempted to check the truck’s cargo.
“Our men started shooting when the soldiers climbed into the truck. So many people died because there were explosive materials in the vehicle,” he said, noting that in the junta’s footage at least three of those killed in the ambush had been disfigured beyond recognition.
A member of the Thayet PDF said that he was told by survivors of the clash that the explosive materials being transported by the members had detonated after the soldiers threw their own bomb at the car while haphazardly shooting at it.
“Our men just couldn’t fight back. The military threw an explosive device at the car, which triggered a series of explosions, so they didn’t really have the time to fire back,” he explained.
He added that at the time of reporting, the soldiers were still searching for the escaped PDF members in the surrounding forests.
