Myanmar resistance forces capture key junta position in Sagaing’s Pale Township

Anti-junta groups have captured the police station in Kant Daunt, a village in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township, after more than two weeks of fighting, resistance sources confirmed on Thursday. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its allies began launching attacks in the village, situated along the Pale-Gangaw highway near the border between Sagaing and Magway regions, on June 2. In response, the regime has carried out a relentless campaign of airstrikes in the area, reportedly resulting in heavy losses on the ground. “There were around 800 airstrikes. It was extremely difficult. We’ve had many casualties on our side. We had to pay a heavy price, but this morning we won the battle,” a member of a resistance group involved in the fighting told Myanmar Now. The junta also lost one of its fighter jets after it was downed by PLA forces last week. The group officially announced the successful completion of its mission on the New Democracy Facebook group, which provides regular updates on PLA activities. “We have raised our red victory flag at the enemy camp in Kant Daunt,” the group said in a post published on Thursday. The PLA’s general secretary, Ni Ni Kyaw, described the capture of the police station as a “gift” to Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned leader of Myanmar’s ousted democratic government, on the occasion of her 80th birthday. “Today, as she turns 80, we successfully captured the Kant Daunt police station and now present it to her as a birthday gift. The PLA is an army built by the children and grandchildren of General Aung San,” he said, referring to Suu Kyi’s father. Three of the resistance fighters killed in Kant Daunt were members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), the PLA ally announced on Thursday. “At around 5:20pm on the 17th, there was a clash with the enemy and we came under aerial fire, so they died on the front lines,” an ABSDF information officer said, identifying the deceased as Than Htike Aung, Kyaung Thar Lay, and James Maung. Pale-based members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which operates under the command of the National Unity Government, also took part in the fighting, playing a key role in intercepting junta reinforcements sent to the nearby village of Inn Ma Htee, a stronghold of the regime-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia. Fighting has continued in Inn Ma Htee and Zee Phyu Kone, which is also dominated by the Pyu Saw Htee, despite the fall of the police station in Kant Daunt, according to a PDF fighter. “Early this morning, at around 6am, Y-12 aircraft arrived and began bombing. There were also two bombing runs with jet fighters. Now they’re also firing from a Mi-35. The fighting will only intensify,” the PDF fighter told Myanmar Now on Thursday. The regime has only one position in Pale Township—the police station in the town of Pale—that it is not currently being forced to defend. At least five civilians have been killed in the township since the fighting began, with another 12 reported injured. Some 10,000 civilians from more than 20 villages have been displaced.

Myanmar resistance forces capture key junta position in Sagaing’s Pale Township

The group leading the offensive called the fall of the police station in the village of Kant Daunt a “gift” to Aung San Suu Kyi on her 80th birthday

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