Targeting former bases of local anti-junta defence forces and a recent battle site, the junta deployed aircraft to attack three locations in Yinmabin and Pale townships starting on Saturday, according to members of the resistance.
The most recent airstrike took place on Monday, providing support for some 80 junta ground troops who were intercepted by resistance groups that afternoon more than 6km south of Pale town. A clash had broken out there, between the villages of Nwe Shauk and Kyun Bo Kone.
“An Mi-35 helicopter came and attacked our escape route at around 1pm,” said an information officer from one of the guerrilla forces involved, the Bama National Revolution Army (BMRA).
No members of the allied resistance groups were injured, he added, but six Myanmar army soldiers were killed and at least 10 wounded during the half-hour battle, according to a BMRA statement published on Tuesday.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the group’s claims.
The anti-junta Pale Township People’s Administration Team also stated that there were no injuries resulting from the military’s airstrike that day, but residents of 12 villages were displaced by the advances of the ground column that had travelled from Pale town.
After Monday’s battle, the unit occupied Nwe Shauk village and continued to launch assaults on the surrounding area, resulting in further clashes with resistance forces.
In the days prior, the junta attacked two deserted bases that had been held by the People’s Defence Force (PDF). The first, struck on Saturday, was located at the foot of Pone Taung Pone Nyar hill, south of Pale town, and the second site was targeted on Sunday near Ka Paing village in neighbouring Yinmabin Township, 32km west of its administrative centre.
One civilian was injured in the airstrike in Yinmabin.
As to why the military may have attacked abandoned resistance posts, an officer in the ninth battalion of the Yinmabin District PDF speculated that “they must have been given bad information.”
A member of another resistance group in the area said that aircraft continued to survey the townships, even though battles have paused.
Around three months ago, 10 civilians were killed and a monastery and two homes destroyed when the junta carried out an aerial bombing of Nyaung Kone village in Pale Township.
Locals at that time suspected that incendiary bombs were used, as the affected structures burnt down within minutes of being hit.
The reason for the attack was not known, as no resistance groups were known to be based in the village or the immediate surrounding area.
