Junta forces seized a cache of weapons valued at more than 450m kyat (US$215,000) in Sagaing Township last week, according to resistance sources.
The incident occurred last Thursday in the village of Sa Mun, which is about 30km north of the city of Sagaing, said Kaung Kin, the commander of the Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defence Team.
The weapons were being moved ahead of anticipated raids by a junta column of around 200 soldiers that has been carrying out clearance operations along the western bank of the Ayeyarwady River since late last month, he told Myanmar Now.
“We managed to move the weapons on June 28 as we heard that they were coming, but then they found out where the truck was and raided that village as well,” said Kaung Kin.
Photos of the seized weapons posted on pro-junta Telegram channels showed five 107mm short-range missiles, one 60mm mortar, one sniper rifle, three handguns, 35 handmade muskets, 123 Chinese grenades, 35 regular grenades, 31 aerial bombs, five ENERGA anti-tank grenades, 32 handmade explosive devices, and several uniforms.
The Ruger Precision sniper rifle alone was worth 60m kyat ($28,700), while the 107mm missiles would have cost around 10m kyat ($4,800) each, according to resistance sources.
According to a spokesperson for the Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defence Team, the group was preparing to defend Htan Gyi, a village about 8km northeast of Sa Mun in Wetlet Township, when the regime forces suddenly changed direction.
“The military apparently received intel from an informant that the truck was in Sa Mun and decided to go there instead of coming after us,” he said.
There were also unconfirmed reports that two residents of Sa Mun, including an 8-year-old boy, were shot dead by the junta column after it entered the village.
The setback came a day after 14 resistance fighters, including three from the Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defence Team, were killed in an ambush near Ta Laing, a village on the border between Sagaing and Wetlet townships.
The ambush was carried out by the same junta column that attacked a People’s Defence Force (PDF) base in the Sagaing Township village of Kindaw three days earlier, killing 17 members of the group and three civilians and seizing several weapons.
The column is believed to include members of the elite “Lin Yone,” or Eagle, commando unit, which was recently honoured at a formal dinner at Mandalay Palace.
A Sagaing District PDF battalion commander blamed the recent losses of personnel and weapons in Sagaing Township on the “reckless” behaviour of the resistance forces operating in the area.
“We didn’t lose because the enemy changed strategies, but because we were reckless,” he said, adding that most of the weapons seized last week could have been saved if they had been sent to separate places.
A total of around 45 resistance fighters, including PDF troops, were killed in Sagaing Township in June.
