More than 30 civilians killed in Mandalay Region battle between junta, resistance

Local resistance forces and the junta have blamed one another for the deaths of more than 30 civilians in a battle in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township last week. Fighting broke out on the morning of May 9 near the Semeikhon port on the Ayeyarwady River after anti-regime groups attacked the bases of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia in the village of Sone, two miles to the east. That afternoon, the military council announced that 32 people from the village, including children, had been killed and 14 more injured, attributing the deaths to resistance forces’ use of heavy artillery and drones equipped with bombs. “The rebel forces attacked the village with heavy artillery shells from the south and southeast and the militia forces fired back, causing the terrorists to flee east, unable to seize control of the base and they torched the nearby houses,” the junta’s statement alleged, referring to the resistance. Pro-junta propaganda accounts on social media shared the statement along with photos of dead civilians, and statements that they claimed had been released by several social and religious groups. Anti-junta forces said that the civilian casualties were caused by heavy artillery fire from a junta warship at Semeikhon port, as well as from the Pyu Saw Htee within Sone. “The warship alone fired around 40 rounds of heavy artillery shells and the junta forces on the shore also fired 60mm mortars,” said a spokesperson for the Myingyan Black Tiger, one of the guerrilla groups that took part in the clash. “They kept firing even when we started withdrawing. Four of our troops were injured by those shells while withdrawing.” He told Myanmar Now that the resistance only targeted armed junta troops and junta posts. “The revolutionary forces only targeted the bases of the junta militia forces and we only torched those bases, not civilians’ houses,” he said, claiming that they had killed five armed Pyu Saw Htee members. There were at least 30 Pyu Saw Htee troops in Sone, and most fled during the battle, in which the resistance attacked and destroyed four major militia bases around the village, the spokesperson added. Resistance groups pointed out that photos shared by junta propaganda channels did not include the slain Pyu Saw Htee members.

More than 30 civilians killed in Mandalay Region battle between junta, resistance

The military blames guerrilla forces for the deaths, but resistance groups say the casualties were caused by the junta firing artillery shells from locations including a nearby warship

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