The military is reportedly holding five officers from a defence ministry factory responsible for a resistance force attack on a convoy carrying arms parts through Magway Region’s Pauk Township in April.
The Pauk Township People’s Defence Force (PDF) intercepted three junta trucks carrying parts believed to be used in the assembly of 60mm and 80mm artillery shells on April 6. They were travelling from the No. 12 Defence Industry Factory, commonly known as DI-12, in Thayet Township to another factory in Pauk when the ambush occurred.
Seven Myanmar army soldiers, including a captain, were captured by the PDF in the attack near Shar Pin Yae village on the Pathein-Monywa road. A large amount of the raw materials, as well as the trucks themselves, was destroyed.
The condition of the soldiers taken prisoner by the PDF could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.
Kaung Htet Aung, a defence industry factory officer on strike in accordance with the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement, and a member of Pauk PDF both told Myanmar Now that the military put Col Win Kyu, the head of DI-12, and four other officers in front of a tribunal in late April regarding the incident.
“This is such an embarrassing loss for the military,” Kaung Htet Aung, who previously worked in a factory in Pyay, Bago Region, said, adding that he did not have information on the outcome of the military’s hearings.
The others on trial are likely majors or captains working in administration, production, and as supervisors, the striking officer added.
Kaung Htet Aung speculated that Col Win Kyu could have his term of service in the military reduced, and that he will likely be replaced as the head of the factory.
Junta officials have not responded to Myanmar Now’s requests for comment.
Following the resistance ambush on the weapons convoy, the military torched more than 20 villages in Pauk and Seikphyu townships, seven of which were entirely reduced to ashes. Twelve locals were also reportedly killed in the assaults.
“They’ve been terrorising the area since they got their trucks attacked,” a member of the Pauk PDF said.
He claimed that much of southern Pauk Township had been targeted in the junta’s arson attacks, and noted that many of the villages in the area that had been spared were those with links to the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee network.
